Abstract: The influence of large power stations construction on river water temperature and the important significance of carrying out the research on dam discharge water temperature have been elaborated in the paper.It is introduced two kinds of river water temperature methods,mainly including empiricism and mathematical models,the former is relatively simple,but seriously restricted by regions with its inferior applicability;However,the latter can make up the deficiency of empiricism to some extent.Furthermore,artificial neural network has been a new tool to simulate river water temperature because of its simplicity and stability.Finally,we discuss the future research on river water temperature on this basis.