Ethylene glycol is a pivotal fundamental organic chemical product and raw material. There are three preparation routes of ethylene glycol:petrochemical,biomass and coal gasification syngas. In recent years,the technology of coal gasification syngas to produce ethylene glycol has developed rapidly in China. However,ethylene glycol wastewater which comes from gasification and DMO synthesis stage has the characteristics of high organic matter,high nitrate,toxic substances and refractory substances,so the standard discharge of wastewater has become one of the main constraints for the application of coal to ethylene glycol technology. The key technologies for the treatment of coal-to-ethylene glycol wastewater,including extraction and stripping pretreatment of coal gasification wastewater for ammonia removal,phenol removal and cyanide destruction,esterification and nitric acid removal of wastewater,composite membrane denitrification,biochemical degradation of organic matter,concentration and crystallization of high-salt wastewater were reviewed and the application scenarios and characteristics of each process were summarized. The results show that the oil,phenol,ammonia,suspended solids and other toxic substances in the wastewater can be removed by the pretreatment unit. The COD,ammonia and organic matters can be reduced by the biological stage. "Wastewater near-zero discharge" can be realized by the evaporation and crystallization. It is suitable to treat coal-to-ethylene glycol from syngas wastewater with the pretreatment-biochemical-salt separation crystallization technology. Finally,in the view of resource,the future research trend and suggestions of wastewater treatment from coal-to-ethylene glycol are proposed to strengthen the source pollution control,implement clean production,and develop "near-zero discharge" technology on high salt wastewater.