Urbanization is an important part of global change.The extraction of urban area is essential for studying urbanization and its environment effect.DMSP/OLS nighttime light data are powerful in monitoring human activity with to the following advantages:suitable for large scale research,light sensitivity at night,and high temporal resolution.This paper reviews applications of DMSP/OLS data:extraction of urban area, urbanization indicators building and evaluation of environment effect of urbanization.The following current problems are concluded.1)Errors derived from both DMSP/OLS data and processing methods may easily decrease accuracy;2)Current studies attach much emphasis on mathematical statistics but little attention is paid to explanation of mechanisms behind urbanization;3)Linear regression model is far from reasonable to represent spatial and temporal heterogeneity of urban expansion.Possible future breakthroughs for DMSP/ OLS data application may be made in the following areas.1)Based on internal driving mechanism of urbanization,nonlinear model should be built by means of appropriate multi-factor variables to monitor and simulate spatial and temporal dynamics of urban development;2)Composite indicators integrating DMSP/OLS data and social economic data should be constructed to improve accuracy of extracting urban area;3)DMSP/ OLS nighttime light data can be integrated to monitor many more factors of urban ecosystem.