Microbial remediation exhibits many advantages such as high-efficiency, simplicity, strong pertinence and environmental friendliness.The studies on the microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, the methods to promote microbial degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the key to improve the bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are introduced, to provide with theoretical evidence to study microbial remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.