Abstract: Accurately acquiring the temporal and spatial distributions and changes of regional soil moisture are of great significance for hydrological process simulation and flood and drought disaster monitoring.In recent decades, the rapid development of remote sensing technology has provided opportunities for continuous observation of surface soil moisture in large areas.In particular, passive microwave remote sensing has many advantages and is considered to be the most potential means for continuous monitoring of surface soil moisture in large areas.For passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture retrieval, scholars at domestic and abroad have carried out a lot of research. In order to better understand the frontier dynamics of domestic and foreign research and analyze the possibility of using passive microwave inversion of soil moisture in production practice.This paper systematically summarizes the research progress of passive microwave remote sensing of soil moisture inversion, including the development of passive microwave remote sensing satellite technology,soil moisture retrieval algorithm and the satellite microwave radiometer soil moisture products.