Objective: Studies on neurodegenerative disease have become a focus these days, human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y has been widely used. This review was aimed to discuss the origin, characteristics and application of SH-SY5Y. Data sources: The articles about the origin and characteristics of SY5Y were retrieved in www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed with the keywords of "SY5Y, origin, characteristic, application, receptor" published in English from January 1960 to August 2005. Meanwhile, www.wanfangdata.com was retrieved to identify the application of this cell line published between January 1995 and August 2005 with the same keywords in Chinese. Study selection: All the literatures were primarily looked through, followed by looking over the quotations in each literature. Inclusive criteria: literatures were related to SY5Y. Exclusive criteria: reviews, repetitive study and Meta analysis. Data extraction: A total of 752 rel evant articles were collected, and 22 were in accordance with the inclusive criteria. The 730 articles were excluded because of outdated or repetitive data. Of the 22 articles, 3 were about the origin of SH-SY5Y, 9 about the characteristics of SH-SY5Y and 10 about the application of SH-SY5Y. Data synthesis: SH-SY5Y origins from malignant tumor of human brain, and has many receptors around its surface, which are closely correlated with its function and application. What is more, it plays an important role in the research of mechanism of some disease, pharmacology, signal transduction and so forth. The exploration to the about aspects is to provide theoretical basis for the reasonable application of this cell line. Conclusion: As a widely applied cellular model, SH-SY5Y plays an important role in the research of nervous system. Further research will help to illustrate its biological characteristics, in favor of application in biomedicine and so forth.