Abstract: Coal is the main energy in China and has been supporting the rapid development of the national economy. However, sulfur in coal has seriously affected the clean utilization of coal and caused serious environmental pollution. Pyrite is the main form of sulfur in coal. Its surface properties and removal methods are very important for the clean utilization of coal. This paper analyzes the differences of physical and chemical properties of pyrite in coal measures, expounds in detail the diversity of occurrence states, the complexity of chemical properties and the non-uniformity of crystal properties of pyrite, analyzes the influence of physical and chemical properties of pyrite on desulfurization, and points out that taking specific removal methods for different physical and chemical properties is the focus of physical desulfurization research. The pretreatment methods of flotation desulfurization are systematically introduced. The research status and development trend of ultrasonic method, microwave method and microbial method are described in detail. Ultrasonic can change the surface properties of minerals and the properties of pulp; microwave method improves the selectivity of slime flotation; microbial method has the advantages of less pollution and less energy consumption. The combination of microwave and ultrasonic can reduce the desulfurization cost and maximize the desulfurization rate. Therefore, the combination of microwave and ultrasonic is the most promising method. The flotation desulfurization effect of pH regulator, organic inhibitor and combined inhibitor is discussed. The price of pH regulator is low, and the organic inhibitor is effective in environmental protection. The combined inhibitor can have the advantages of both pH regulator and organic inhibitor, which is an important research direction of pyrite flotation inhibitor.