Abstract: Ethyl lactate is nontoxic，biodegradable，and has excellent solvent properties that can replace toxic and halogenated solvents for a wide range of industrial applications and consumer uses as a “green solvent”. The progress of preparation of ethyl lactate through chemical and bio-chemical methods from lactic acid and ammonium lactate is described in this paper. The advantage and disadvantage of synthesis of ethyl lactate from different raw materials and by different methods are discussed. The future research work of the synthesis of ethyl lactate is proposed.