Abstract:Sugarcane yellow leaf virus (SCYLV) is associated with the sugarcane yellow leaf disease (SCYLD), which has become a serious threat to the sugarcane industry worldwide since the last two decades. The virus infects the phloem tissue, and it is transmitted by the aphid Melanaphis sacchari. SCYLV is thought to have arisen from several recombination events among members of the genera Luterovirus, Polerovius and Enamovus basis on the heterogeneous affinities of its genomic sequence and then is assigned to the genus Polerovirus of the family Luteoviridae by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Research advances in SCYLV and its associated disease are summarized in this review including the aspects of the viral biology characteristics, occurrence and effect on sugarcane, methods of identification and detection, molecular evolution and genetic diversity, viral genomic construct and putative genes function as well as transgenic sugarcane of disease resistance. Conventional disease-resistance breeding and control measures were also discussed.