Abstract: The bio-safety of drinking water is related to the national economy and the people′s livelihood. As an emerging pollutant with potential risk for human health and threat to public safety, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) contamination in drinking water has attracting increasing attention around the world. To provide references for accurate assessment on ARGs contamination-related health risk and effective prevention of the contamination, the study reviews researches on characteristics and mechanism of ARGs contamination in drinking water in China and on techniques for enrichment and detection of ARGs in drinking water.