The recent development and current status of research on the cotton weed in China were summarized, including the weed occurrence, distribution rule, population dynamics, weed damage and control techniques. Although the research on basic theory and chemical management technologies of cotton weed in China has got a faster development, problems of frequent herbicide injury, dominant weed population changes, lag in control techniques and deficiencies of transgenic resistant herbicide cotton still exit. Therefore, the study on basic theory should be strengthened. On the basis of chemical control, we should speed up the creation of novel chemical herbicide, strengthen the monitoring and management of herbicide resistant weeds, and carry out further research on biological weed control and herbicide resistant cotton.