Abstract: Two-line hybrid rice based on environment-sensitive genic male sterility plays an important role in ensuring food security in our country. At present, dozens of environment-sensitive male sterility genes have been found in rice, and some of them have been cloned and their regulatory mechanisms have been studied in detail. In this paper, we reviewed the application and molecular mechanisms of RNA metabolism, signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, pollen wall synthesis and amino acid metabolism of environment-sensitive genic male sterility in rice. Finally, challenges and corresponding countermeasures of environment-sensitive genic male sterility research in rice are also analyzed and proposed.