Soil pollution is deteriorating due to rapid urbanization and industrial development.Once released into soils, pollutants are transferred to other environmental media such as water,air and biota.They pose health risks to humans via various exposure pathways including drinking water,inhalation,food,dermal contact etc.As a new environmental management tool, health risk assessment(HRS)of polluted soil forms the base for establishing soil environmental quality standards.So far,limited research work has been done in China in relation to HRS of polluted soils.As an effort to boost its development in China,this article reviewed the advance in related research,methodology,existing problems and future trends.HRS of polluted soils is moving towards multi-media,multi-pathways and multi-pollutants risk assessment.Model simulation will be widely used in HRS. Currently,many uncertainties still remain in the quantification of HRS.To make it reliable,future research should focus on developing quantitative methods including pollutants transport models,dose-response relationship,and time-activity patterns of population etc.