Abstract: The formulation of the list of priority pollutants at home and abroad was systematically introduced, including foreign countries and international organizations, such as United States, European Union, Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Japan, South Korea and others, and different areas/basins of China. The screening principle and technical methods were analyzed, and the advantages and disadvantages of the screening and sorting methods were analyzed. Through the comparison of the main screening and sorting methods at home and abroad, it was found that there were some problems in the screening and sorting of environmental priority pollutants in China, such as single environmental medium, large subjective influence, lack of local models and parameters, imperfect routine monitoring items, and lack of continuous monitoring of dynamic changes of the pollutants. According to these problems, some pertinent suggestions were given, including strengthening the collection of basic data, fully considering different environmental media, establishing and developing local technical methods and model parameters, and updating the list of pollutants dynamically.