Hydrogen energy is a zero-carbon, high-density energy carrier, predominantly derived from fossil fuels such as natural gas orcoal. As the global push toward achieving " carbon peak and neutrality" goals intensifies and the transition to low-carbon energy accelerates, the importance of sustainable hydrogen energy is becoming increasingly evident. However, the mismatch between current hydrogenproduction technologies and the growing energy demand is becoming more pronounced. Single solar-driven hydrogen production technologies remain limited by factors such as high production costs, technological immaturity, and inadequate infrastructure, preventing themfrom replacing fossil fuel-based methods on a large scale in the near term. The highly endothermic nature of the methane reforming reaction enables solar-driven methane reforming to absorb solar thermal energy up to 23% of the higher heating value of methane, by whichsolar energy can also be stored and converted to chemical energy, increasing the proportion of solar energy in hydrogen energy while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions in hydrogen production. Therefore, solar-driven natural gas reforming technology for hydrogen production is expected to play a pivotal role in the near- to mid-term. However, the simple integration of traditional SMR with concentrating solar technology still requires reaction temperatures of 800 to 1 000 ℃ and high concentration ratios exceeding 1 000. These requirements result in large radiative and convective heat losses, and fail to address critical technical challenges, such as the complexity and high carbonemissions of traditional SMR system. Lowering the reaction temperature of methane reforming through product separation by Le Chatelier'sprinciple has the potential to overcoming the bottleneck in integrating with solar concentrating technologies. Furthermore, the synergistichydrogen production and decarbonization at the origin of methane conversion could effectively address the challenges of high temperature,high energy consumption and high carbon emissions associated with traditional methane reforming. The advancements in solar methane reforming technology for hydrogen production and decarbonization from both thermodynamic and kinetic perspectives were reviewed . Thetrends of development of conventional solar methane reforming from concentrating solar technologies, reforming reactors and hydrogen production systems were analyzed. The fundamental reasons underlying critical challenges of conventional solar methane reforming technologieswere also analyzed, such as high reaction temperatures, high irreversible losses in solar concentration and high energy consumption. Furthermore, new principles and methods from the perspective of reaction process design was focused on that can simultaneously reduce reaction temperature, improve product selectivity, and promote the synergistic conversion of hydrogen and carbon constituents. Methane reforming with single-product separation of CO or hydrogen using sorbent or membrane can reduce reaction temperatures to 500-600 ℃ . Afurther reduction to 400 ℃ or below can be achieved by sequentially separating two or more target products, reaching near-complete methane conversion and H & CO product selectivity under isothermal and atmospheric pressure conditions with solar trough concentrators, significantly reducing reaction temperature and energy consumption for hydrogen production and decarbonization while greatly simplifying andconsolidating the hydrogen production system with a high level of integration. Under the new circumstances of vigorously developing renewable energy and promoting low-carbon energy transition, innovations in thermodynamic approaches, process design, and hydrogen production methods offer the potential for traditional methane reforming to achieving deep integration with solar thermal technologies. Such integration is expected to open up broader prospects for breakthroughs in sustainable hydrogen technologies in the near- to mid-term.