Abstract: Water scarcity and the development of industrialization and urbanization lead to the serious shortage of agricultural water resources in China. Water management in agricultural production is to be greatly improved in terms of water use efficiency. Water-saving agriculture is the only approach to alleviating the water scarcity in agriculture. The situation and problems in agricultural water use were analyzed in this paper and meanwhile the progresses in the research of water-saving agriculture made in the world as well as in China were also discussed, including improving agronomic practices, breeding drought resistant varieties, and innovating the agricultural water use management. Moreover the strategies for developing water saving agriculture were proposed.