Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD), an important component of global water cycle, typical and important seawater-groundwater interaction process in coasts, intertidal zones and estuaries, is recently recognized as a research highlight on the land-ocean interaction. As an important component of global water cycle, SGD is not only one of the important sources of water and chemicals in the ocean, but also an important but hidden pathway for various contaminants transport between land and ocean. This paper reviews the research status and progresses of SGD, with a detailed description of the groundwater discharge process, research methods and spatial distribution and their corresponding environmental significance, etc. The deficiencies in present studies and prospects for future research are proposed to provide some thoughts and scientific basis for the research of large-scale SGD in our country.