Abstract: The analytical methods and pollution characteristics of phthalic acid esters(PAEs) in sediments of water bodies both at home and abroad were reviewed. The pretreatment methods, including Soxhlet extraction, ultrasound extraction, microwave assisted extraction, accelerated solvent extraction, passive sampling techniques, etc., two clean-up methods, i.e. column chromatography, and solid phase extraction, and several instrumental analysis methods, including gas chromatography, gas chromatography mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography were illustrated extensively, and their advantages and disadvantages compared. The analysis could provide the references for more efficient PAEs extraction and analysis. Also, the PAEs pollution characteristics of river and lake sediment both at home and abroad in recent years were summarized. Compared with Europe, the United States and other developed countries, China's PAEs pollution in sediments was more seriously, which had the higher potential ecological risk, and the main pollutants were DBP, DEHP, etc.