Microwave induced combustion(MIC),as a kind of microwave assisted environmentally friendly sample pretreatment method,has particularly attracted much interest in recent years.The internal instructure and application procedures of the MIC reactor help to burn completely and improve the recoveries of the elements.The combustion reaction between sample and oxygen goes rapidly under the microwave irradiation in the presence of igniter.After the reaction,elements are absorbed by the absorbing solution through refluxing process.To determine elemental type and speciation as well as their contents,the absorbing solution may be analyzed by the element analytical instruments,such as AAS,ICP-OES,ICP-MS and IC,etc.This environmentally friendly method could be applied in a wide range of samples with short combustion time,low residual carbon content,high recovery of elements and low loss of volatile elements,which will remain as a research focus of the sample pretreatment in the following decades.In this paper,the basic principle,reaction system,igniter and absorbing solution,sample preparation of MIC and its applications in the field of food,biology,polymer,geology,coal,crude oil and carbon material are introduced,which could provide more effective and significant reference value for the studies in the future.