With the increasing shortage of fresh water resources, reasonable exploitation and utilization of brackish water have become an important way to alleviate the contradiction between water supply and demand. Irrigation with brackish water which contains a lot of salt will affect crop growth and soil quality; therefore, taking effective measures to control the status of soil water and salt has become the basis for the safe use of brackish water. A detailed review of research development on brackish water irrigation was done, including the transport characteristics of soil water and salt with brackish water irrigation, brackish water infiltration mathematical function and soil water and salt transport model, the method of brackish water irrigation, the influence on crop growth and advances in soil water and salt regulation methods. And the scientific and technological problems on the safe use of brackish water combined with the core issues of interest were put forward in order to provide some guidances for further understanding the mechanism of effects of brackish water irrigation on soil quality and crop growth and establishing the reasonable types for using brackish water to irrigate the farmland.