The accumulation of gold tailings annually with continuous gold mining not only has wasted large amounts of land,damaged surrounding environment,but also even jeopardized human health.Safe treatment and disposal of cyanide tailings residue has always been hot-spot in gold industry,while gold,silver,copper,lead and non-metallic minerals such as quartz and feldspar as well as silicon  aluminum oxides,silicate materials in gold tailings are worth recovering and have wide industrial application potential.The comprehensive utilization of gold tailings is significant in the healthy development of gold industry and natural resources protection.Review of the comprehensive utilization of the tailings generated from different gold extraction processes in gold industry,such as cyanide tailings residue of gold ores,gold concentrates and heap leaching and flotation  tailings is conducted,providing reference for the study of comprehensive utilization of gold tailings.