Abstract: Genome-wide association study（GWAS）is the main method to mine genetic information of important traits in crops. With the rapid development of sequencing technology，the cost of developing single nucleotide polymorphism （SNP） markers has been greatly reduced. GWAS technology based on linkage disequilibrium（LD）has been widely used to study the complex traits of agronomy，quality and resistance of crops. In recent years，GWAS technology has been successfully applied to the genetic analysis of important traits of soybean，and a series of research progresses have been made. Based on the introduction of principle and implementation method of GWAS，the author summarizes and analyses the recent advances in genetic research on important agronomic traits，quality traits and stress resistance traits in soybean and the application prospects.

Key words: soybean, genome-wide association study（GWAS）, linkage disequilibrium（LD）