Production and construction activities have led to profound changes in occurrence of soil erosion newly arising in production and construction areas. Studies of basic issues in soil erosion are of great significance to sediment control and improvements of on-site and surrounding ecological environment. Therefore, theories and methodologies should be developed to provide scientific guidance for erosion control and soil & water conservation planning in production and construction project areas. This paper summarizes the present research status of soil erosion in production and construction project areas from various aspects including basic concept, research methods, influencing factors, laws of runoff and sediment production; meanwhile, we analyze some of the problems in previous studies, looking forward to supplying reference for studies of related fields in the future.