Abstract: Rice production presents a unique environmental condition, with the diseases, insects and weeds being serious during production process. Many kinds of pesticides are used with high frequency. Some pesticides will leach into surrounding water, which shows a high risk for pollution. With the increasing costs of pesticide monitoring and field experiments, mathematical models have become an indispensable part during the process of pesticide registration. As the most reliable and widely used model for pesticide exposure assessment in European paddy fields, rice water quality (RICEWQ) model was mainly used to predict pesticide concentrations in flooded paddy fields and water, and had been preliminarily applied in China. In this review, system structure, the main processes of pesticide fate involved, input and output of RICEWQ model were briefly introduced, and the research progress at home and abroad were summarized. This review would promote the application of RICEWQ model in China and provide reference for related research.