Plastic film mulching (PFM) is one of the most widely applied agricultural technology in China,which changes the distribution of cotton planting regions and greatly improves the development of cotton industry in China. Two methods including on-site investigations and literature and statistical data collection were used to conduct a largescale sampling of the characteristics of mulch film application and residual pollution in main cotton areas in China to obtain first-hand data. At the same time,the application and data of cotton film mulching technology in the past few decades are sorted and summarized. The changing characteristics of cotton production pattern in China were reviewed. The effects of mulching technology on cotton industry in China were analyzed. The characteristics and trends of residual pollution of mulch film in the soil of main cotton farmland were discussed. The results showed that cotton yield increased sharply to today’s 2 000 kg/hm2 in Xinjiang after wide application of PFM technology,which is much larger than that in the Yangtze or Yellow River Basin. Therefore,China’s main cotton planting area has migrated from previous Yangtze and Yellow River Basin to today’s Northwest inland region. However,residue accumulation of plastic film has become a serious problem and affects sustainable development of cotton industry. The residue accumulation of plastic film in the soil after 10 and 20 years of PFM application in Xinjiang was 259.7±36.78 kg/hm2 and 307.9±35.84 kg/hm2,respectively. Therefore,PFM technique will continue to play a key role in maintaining the stability of cotton production,and plastic film pollution will be more and more serious in the future. We must take some powerful actions to control residual pollution of plastic derived from PFM in China.