As a featured pollutant in gold industry,cyanide is an important index of environmental monitoring.The paper analyzed the existence state of cyanide in different media,and summarized the determination method for cyanide in current standards and analyzed them,pointed out that there is no uniform appelation of cyanide making things ambiguous when cyanide is used.The paper advised that related standards be revised,piding cyanide clearly according to the determination method to WAD cyanide and total cyanide.The cyanide in water and soil quality standards and waste water emission standards should also be revised in order to make the appellation of cyanide clear and the standards more regulated and precise.