Abstract: The contamination of heavy metals in soil constitutes a serious environmental risk. This paper discusses the concept of bio?availability/accessibility of heavy metals and the affecting factors, presents the progress in the study of experimental methods of selec?tive extraction, and indicates the data application and research direction. The speciation and bioavailability of heavy metals in soil de?pend on elemental geochemical behavior, source of contaminants, physico?chemical condition of soil, rhizosphere enhancement and some other factors. Single and sequential selective extraction is the effective and operational methods to reflect the speciation and bio?availability of heavy metals in soil. As hand?to?mouth activity is the important pathway for soil Pb exposure to children, in vitro diges?tion methods have been developed to evaluate the bioaccessibility of heavy metals. Bioavailability and bioaccessibility of soil contami?nants seem to be the key parameters for risk assessment. The results of selective extraction also provide the basis for contaminated soil remediation.