Abstract: Rare earth, as an important industrial raw material, has been listed in the strategic materials list by many countries. In recent years, with the development of new energy and other technologies, the demand for rare earth is increasing, so various developed countries have launched a rare earth secondary resources comprehensive utilization research work. In this paper, Based on tracking and analyzing a large number of books and papers, the present situation of comprehensive utilization of rare earth secondary resources at home and abroad and the existing problems in domestic rare earth secondary resources are summarized from three aspects: the present situation of rare earth secondary resources industry in major developed countries, the situation of rare earth secondary resources recovery in China and the existing problems in China. The research direction of rare earth secondary resources in the next step is pointed out.