Abstract: Soil environmental background value is the basis for soil pollution identification and plays an important role for environmental management. Several countries and regions have already carried out researches on soil environmental background value. In this paper, the definition of soil environmental background value is introduced, and the status of the application of soil environmental background value has been reviewed, including the development of soil environmental standard, the management of agricultural land sustainability, the identification of contaminated sites, the screening of the concerned contaminants, and the determination of remediation goals. The expressions of soil environmental background values are then summarized. At last, the problems in the application of soil environmental background values in China have been analyzed and some suggestions are proposed accordingly. This study can provide a reference for scientific research on soil environmental background value and its administrative management.