The concept and mechanism of water-fertilizer coupling and the relationship between water and fertilizer in tobacco were summarized, including the effects of distribution of fertilizer and availability at different soil layers, physiological activities, different water-fertilizer combination on tobacco growth and development, contents of chemical components in tobacco leaves, yield and quality of tobacco; it focused on the present problems and causes of water-fertilizer coupling for research majors, as well as the prospects and directions of water-fertilizer coupling development were proposed.