With the depletion of simple and easy-to-treat gold resources,complex refractory gold resources have become the main source of raw materials for gold industry production in China.The main pretreatment methods for refractory gold ores are pressurized oxidation,roasting,biological oxidation and so on.The latest research progress and history of various pretreatment methods at home and abroad are summarized and analyzed,with emphasis on the industrial application  of pretreatment methods  used in typical gold smelters at home and abroad and the comparison of various indexes.The future research direction of pretreatment methods for refractory gold ores is prospected.