Abstract: Groundwater contamination in petrochemical sites seriously restricts ecological civilization construction. Safe and efficient remediation of contaminated sites is a key problem to be discussed and solved urgently in the development of petrochemical industry. The challenges for groundwater remediation in petrochemical contaminated sites are analyzed from three aspects: particular contaminants，hydrogeology conditions and environmental effects. The promising groundwater remediation techniques including regional remediation strategies regarding to different pollution levels are discussed. As revealed by the analysis，the difficulties for accurate pollution positioning and in situ remediation in petrochemical contaminated sites have been increased due to the hydrophobicity of non-aqueous phase pollutants （NAPLs），different migration characteristics of compound pollutants，the heterogeneity of strata，as well as the frequent interactions between surface water and groundwater. Major breakthroughs of groundwater remediation technology in future petrochemical sites include the development of sustained-release and long-acting materials with improved mass transfer and transmission performance and of high efficiency remediation technologies for heterogeneous aquifers. The remediation effects can be significantly improved by combining subregional remediation and in situ multi- remediation technologies，which further ensures the safe production of petrochemical sites.

Key words: petrochemical site, groundwater, pollution, remediation, porous media