Abstract: The primary objective of environmental quality standards is to protect human health. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have respectively carried out research on water quality criteria and formulated a complete system of methodology. The updated Environmental Protection Law of China in 2015 has supplemented the requirement of scientifically determining the environmental criteria. Therefore, it is necessary to learn from the principles and methodology of water quality criteria revisions in developed countries and review the international advanced criteria from the aspects of the methods of pollutants screening and criteria limits determining, etc. The foreign experience could provide references and suggestions for independently establishing national water quality criteria and standards in line with China’s own conditions.