Abstract: Coal is the main primary energy in China, which plays an important role in the development of national economy. However, a large amount of coal gangue is produced inevitably in the development, processing and utilization process of coal. The coal gangue, increasing year by year, not only occupies a large amount of land resources, but also affects the surrounding ecological environment. At the background of "double carbon", it is important to realize the comprehensive treatment and resource utilization of coal gangue in the coa lprocessing field. Thus, this paper summarized the recent research situation of coal gangue, introduced the physical and chemical characteristics of coal gangue in detail, and then enumerated the research progress of coal gangue by combining with its own characteristics, i.e., backfilling and reclamation, preparation of building materials, the recovery of useful components, agricultural production, wastewater treatment, etc.. Finally, in view of the shortcomings and deficiencies of the current research in this field, the future development direction of the resource utilization of coal gangue is proposed, which provides a reference for the development of the "reduction, recycling and harmless" of coal gangue.