Abstract: As economic development brings about intensified global warming and pollution emissions, environmental problems have become the focus of governments and scholars, and scholars at home and abroad have continued to conduct research in the field of environmental economics. This paper studies the relevant literature in the field of domestic environmental economics in the past 40 years, and summarizes the research connotation and themes of environmental economics. The study finds that the domestic scholars' theoretical research on environmental economics is roughly divided into three stages. The empirical research focuses on the general equilibrium model, the cost-benefit model, etc. The relationship between economic growth and the environment is derived from the environmental effects of trade and investment. Future environmental economics research will be more intersected with other disciplines, attentions will be paid to micro-subject behavioral moral constraints, and reduction of environmental pollution caused by economic growth.