Abstract: Pharmaceutical wastewater, characterized by large fluctuations in water quality, poor biodegradability and high chemical oxygen demand, has always been a problem in wastewater treatment. The antibiotics in pharmaceutical wastewater are continuously discharged into the environment due to the large amount of use, and show "pseudo-persistent" retention, which is difficult to be completely removed from the water body. In order to achieve efficient treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater, this review summarizes the water quality characteristics of pharmaceutical wastewater and the challenges associated with antibiotic removal. It also systematically explores the properties of biochar and its role in enhancing pollutant removal. The limitations of conventional wastewater treatment processes for removing antibiotics are discussed, including introduction of recent advancements in biochar-coupled treatment processes. The results show that due to its porous structure, surface charge, special surface functional groups and other characteristics, biochar material has good adsorption ability of antibiotics, which can significantly improve the treatment effect of pharmaceutical wastewater by combining with the conventional wastewater treatment process, such as the introduction of biochar strengthened the removal effect of antibiotics by membrane bioreactor, activated sludge, anaerobic digestion and advanced oxidation, and at the same time, it can improve the stability of the system, reduce the process material consumption and energy consumption, and so on. It is recommended to further study the correlation between the preparation process of biochar and the characteristics of carbon formation, to strengthen the investigation of the mechanism of pollutant removal by biochar coupling process, and to popularize its application in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment, so as to promote the innovation and progress of pharmaceutical wastewater treatment technology.