Abstract: Atmospheric low visibility events are commonly caused by special meteorological processes, such as fog, haze, rain, snow, and dust storm. With rapid urbanization and increasing pollutant emission, visibility could be further degraded; and this has become a pervasive and urgent environmental problem in China. Regarding fi rstly the current pollution status in our country and corresponding researches both at home and abroad, then the research work is done to illustrate the theoretical calculation of atmospheric extinction, along with main influence factors of the low visibility. Moreover, the progress and the corresponding advantages and disadvantages of extinction estimation methods are summarized and discussed. Consequently, some specific suggestions are proposed for future visibility monitoring and research in China.