Pharmaceuticals and personal care products(PPCPs) have received increasing attention due to their large amount of usage throughout the world as well as the comparable quantities introduced into the environment with “priority” pollutants.Meanwhile,gadolinium-based contrast agents(GBCAs) might belong to this class of chemicals.As a result of high doses of GBCAs administered in magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) exams,their unmetabolized excretion,and insufficient removal in wastewater treatment plants(WWTPs),large amounts of GBCAs are released into environment.Some of them have shown potential physiological toxicity and neurotoxicity.In this paper,the characteristics,exact classification,current environmental situation,and the analysis methods of GBCAs are reviewed,which might provide a reference for the risk assessment on GBCAs in the future.