Abstract: To derive and develop environmental criteria/benchmarks is a challenging and intractable scientific conundrum. The enactment and revision of environmental standards is a long-term and arduous task. In this review, the conception and connotation of environmental criteria/benchmarks and standards were firstly expounded,and the old cognition in the past was rectified according to their recent international developments in this direction. It emphasizes that the environmental criterion/benchmark is not equal to the environmental quality criterion/benchmark,and environmental criteria/benchmarks should be comprised of environmental quality criteria/benchmarks and remediation/cleanup criteria/benchmarks for contaminated environment;correspondingly, environmental standards should include both environmental quality standards and remediation/cleanup standards for contaminated environment. On the basis of the new cognition, prominent accomplishments acquired in the field of environmental quality criteria/benchmarks at home and abroad have been summarized, some advanced modus operandies for environmental quality standards in France ( as a representative of west European countries) , Canada ( as a rep resentative of American countries) and Italy ( as a representative of midland European countries) were enumerated, and relevant p rogresses in research on remediation/cleanup criteria/benchmarks for contaminated environment and enactment of remediation / cleanup standards for contaminated environment are introduced. Future research on environmental criteria/benchmarks has been prospected.