Abstract: Heavy metal mercury is one of the key pollutants in coal-fired flue gas,and its toxicity has been highly concerned by the international community. In this paper,the existing research methods of mercury removal technology are reviewed from three aspects:adsorbent synthesis means,quantum chemical microsimulation and engineering demonstration test. It is considered that the modification of raw materials is the main adsorbent synthesis method,while the focus of quantum chemistry research is on the adsorption mechanism of adsorbent surface,and the tendency of engineering demonstration test is to detect and explore the removal efficiency of selective catalytic reduction（SCR）method and other technologies. In addition,the future research of adsorption mercury removal technology is prospected from four aspects:auxiliary mercury removal technology,collaborative mercury removal technology,recycling and renewable mercury removal technology and other new mercury removal technologies. The results show that recycling and renewable mercury removal technology is the potential development direction of mercury removal technology in the future.