Abstract: Activated carbons have been extensively used as adsorbents in environment．Because it was expensive，it is not economical to use only once before deserted．The regeneration of the activated carbon could eliminate pollution，low the expense，make the resource useful．The activated carbon regeneration technologies and mechanism were system introduced and discussed in the paper，such as thermal destruction，which was a traditional method but widely applicant in industry，microorganism method，electrochemical method，supercritical fluid method，microwave method，which was based on thermal destruction，ultrasonic treatment and TiO₂ photo catalytic regeneration，etc．On the other hand，the advantage and disadvantage of regeneration methods are introduced and discussed in this paper，at the same time, the paper points out that microwave method is highly efficiency，short time expense，it will be a potential method for industry． On the other hand, the evaluating methods for activated carbon regeneration were introduced，such as breakthrough profile，adsorption isotherm and standard reload experiment．

Key words: activated carbon, regeneration, the mechanism of regeneration, evaluating methods