Abstract: The species of common allelopathic algae-inhibiting emergent, floating and submerged plants and the algal suppressed were listed. It was concluded that allelochemicals had the characteristics of selectivity and promotion low concentration, inhibition at highconcentration, and there were synergistic, additive and antagonistic effects among different allelochemicals. And the mechanism of al-gae inhibition by allelopathy was introduced from the cell level ( such as photosynthetic system, cell membrane and enzyme activity)and gene level. Aquatic plants had a low concentration of allelochemicals in their daily metabolism and wheth the laboratory effect couldbe well applied to engineering projects, it was pointed out that the future research focus will be on the artificial synthesis of highly effec-tive allelochemicals and their practical applications in natural conditions.

Key words: aquatic plants, allelopathy, allelochemicals, antialgal mechanism, cell level