Abstract: Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are widely used to remove the pests and weeds for the high grain yield in crop planting systems. However, the sustainable production has been restricted by some negative impacts on the soil and ecological environment. Fortunately, a new conservation tillage measure, covering crop planting can be adopted to realize the sustainable development of agriculture. This review aims to explore the research progress on benefits and rational selection of cover crops in agricultural production. A visual analysis with the keyword "cover crops" was firstly performed on the current research status using the CNKI database. It was found that the current number of publications increased to reach a peak in 2020. The research fields of cover crops included basic agricultural science, crop science, agronomy, plant protection, biology, environmental science and resource utilization. Cover crops method has been the multidisciplinary research object. The current research of cover crops was focused mainly on the impact of cover crops on the soil and subsequent crops, including the soil organic carbon and nitrogen sequestration, weed and pest inhibition, the improvement of soil physical and chemical properties, and the impact on soil microbial activity. A systematic summery was proposed to clarify the effects of cover crops on the soil nutrients, moisture, pH value, physical indicators (including soil bulk density and total porosity), biological indicators (including soil enzyme activity and soil microbial diversity), and environmental factors (including greenhouse gas emissions, heavy metals, and water environment). In addition, the rest benefits of cover crops were also involved as well. Cover crops method were taken as a new strategy to achieve the sustainable agricultural production with the high yield of main crops, in order to produce numerous ecological service functions, such as reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss. However, there were great differences in the natural resource endowments, such as the climate in the north and south of China. Not all cover crops were produced better ecological service functions in different places. Particularly, cover crops were also led to some adverse impacts under the stress of some natural conditions, such as the reduced crop yield and the increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the local field microclimate, the selection of varieties, planting time and mode, when selecting cover crops. Moreover, the spread of cover crops was limited by the selection of cover crops, setting, termination, economic benefits, and uncertainty in the large-scale areas. Finally, the field management of cover crops and related subsidy policies were essential to the water quality optimization, soil erosion reduction, and soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions reduction without significant yield reduction. The function of cover crops was attributed to the multiple factors, of which the influencing factor was precipitation. Furthermore, the cover crop traits were closely related to the temperature, evapotranspiration, and short growing season in the large-scale popularization. Therefore, the types of cover crops were recommended suitable for the different regions of China, together with their ecological functions and models. To sum up, this review can provide an essential basis for the rational selection and large-scale popularization of cover crops in the agricultural planting system, in order to improve the farmland ecological environment and sustainable development of agricultural production.