Abstract: In recent years, seismic waveform inversion, which has attracted wide attention, has greatly contributed to the development of seismic prospecting. Thus, it is of tremendous significance to do further research about seismic wave form inversion. Firstly, the early stage of its development is introduced. Secondly, the seismic waveform inversion is discussed through theories, methods and numerical settings. Finally, a review on the selection of model, inversion methods and the applications of regularization is given.