Biological soil crusts are complex organic integrities of cyanobacteria, green algae, lichens and mosses, fungi as well as soil microorganism, cementing with surface soil fine particles by their exude mucilaginous material. They are common cryptogamic communities in various arid and semi-arid regions of the world. As vascular plant cover, BSCs cover is one of most important earth surface cover types as BSCs occupies 40% of the total area of the arid lands, which are significant compositions and features of desert ecosystems and arid landscapes. Therefore, the vital roles of BSCs in the processes of desert landscapes, soil ecological, soil hydrological, soil biological and geochemical processes, as well as in the practice of ecological rehabilitation for arid and semiarid regions have been widely emphasized. With regards to BSCs, up to now, it not only becomes one of international key scientific issues for earth surface processes in arid regions, but also cross highlight between geographical and biological knowledge. In this paper, the new advances and trends for BSCs studies have been reviewed. Based on this, we discuss the future research emphases, and hope these reviews will be benefited to BSCs study in China, and will enhance the understanding for earth surface processes in arid and semiarid regions of China.