Abstract:Safeners are chemical agents that reduce the phytotoxicity of herbicides to crops by physiology or biochemical, without reducing the effectiveness of herbicides. Safeners affect the absorption and transmission of crops, also induce the activity of P450-induced metabolism, glutathione and ALS in crops. Particular attention has been paid to defining the biochemical and physiological mechanisms on safener, not only to assist safener development and optimization, but also as a means of understanding and manipulating the mechanisms which contribute to herbicide selectivity and resistance. This paper reviews the progress of the researches in safener biochemical and physiological mechanisms and prospect the future research needs.