Abstract: Chlorpyrifos was one of the most widely used organophosphorus insecticides in agriculture due to its characteristics of excellent insecticidal activity, broad spectrum and difficult resistance to insects. However, great concern had been raised regarding its residue problems and harmfulness to ecological environment. To understand the degradation process and residue analytical methods of chlorpyrifos in soil, the basic properties, action mechanism and current applications of chlorpyrifos were introduced in this paper, and its metabolites, degradation mechanism and dominant factors affecting degradation in soil were described as well. Additionally, extraction, purification, analytical principles and methods of chlorpyrifos in soil were summarized. At last, future research directions on degradation and detection techniques of chlorpyrifos were proposed. The authors suggested that further studies are needed on the degradation of chlorpyrifos in complex environment system soil-water-plant-atmosphere in the future and should develop rapid detection techniques combining efficient sample pretreatment and sensitive subsequent detection.