Abstract: Mo lecularimp rinting, an emerging technique for preparing synthet ic polymers with molecular recognition, is developing rap idly in these years. The molecularly imp rinted polymers (MIPs) with tailo r-made recognit ion sites are very po tential for selective separat ion and determ inat ion of t race analysis for drugs or pest icides. MIPs and their application to trace analysis, including recognit ion princip les, preparation, current app licat ions, problems and their future are discussed in th is review , with 86 references.