Montan wax origins from ancient plant which leads a long and slow way towards becoming lignite thousands of years ago, their composition is very complex. Crude montan wax is obtained after organic solvent extraction from lignite, then deresined wax is acquired by cooling the extracted solvent toluene, last refined wax called S wax could be made after a series oxidation process, which can be used as basic raw materials for production of more valuable synthetic wax. Montan wax have a wide range of applications in industry，in agriculture, and in forestry. But there are still some problems,for instance, crude montan wax has dark colour, which restricted its application; plenty of by-product resin increase the production cost. Given the montan wax`s wide range application value and the crucial role in the national economy, we should strengthen the study of montan wax and find the way to comprehensive utilization. The author has systematically summarized the research progress of the montan wax and analyzed the deficiencies and problems in china,in order to speed up the montan wax research process.