Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a common and fatal neurodegenerative diseases， which can be divided into familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Several studies have shown that a combination of environmental and genetic risk factors contribute to sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The research on genetic factors is in the initial stage in China， and the research on environmental factors is relatively insufficient， which needs to be further clarified. The role and mechanism of environmental risk factors associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are reviewed.