Water saving in agriculture becomes more and more urgent task in the world due to the shortage of global water resources. Subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) is one of the water saving irrigation system, with its obvious advantages and some disadvantages. The paper discusses development of SDI, its effect on crop yield, research focus, system design and management, irrigation scheduling, fertigation, analysis of environment and economics, advantage and disadvantages of SDI system, etc. It will be helpful for development of SDI technology in China.