Since the systematic research in the 1950s, the constructed wetland (CW) has attracted increasing attention and has been widely utilized. Based on the previous reports, we summarize the development of CW studies in China, and it is divided into three stages:initial exploration, rapid development and standardized application. In this review, measures of improving the efficiency of nitrogen, phosphorus and emerging pollutants removal, the microbial structure and function in the rhizosphere, and modeling of CW are summarized and discussed. In general, the key studies on CWs are to improve the removal efficiencies of pollutants and explain their mechanisms. In the future, a new design procedure combining theory and practice based on long monitoring data is needed, further exploration on the biological process in CW is necessary; a reasonable modeling would be established to accurately predict the CW process.