Abstract: Moisture is one of the important quality indicators of coal products, and dewatering of fine slime product is of crucial importance in coal slime water treatment. Following an analysis of the necessity of slime dewatering, the paper presents a detailed summary of the progress so far made both within and abroad in the study of such aspects as thickening and dewatering equipment, moisture reduction in externally applied force field, dewatering agents and aids, and dewatering processes. It is pointed out the future research work should be directed toward the development of more environmentally-friendly, energy-saving and efficient slime dewatering process.