The presence of emerging pollutants (EPs) in water poses a potentially new and serious challenge on human health. Here, we reviewed the relevant literatures published in 2017, summarized the occurrence, environmental fate, transport and impacts of EPs in the environment, and analyzed the environmental toxicity of personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), nanoparticles (NPs) and nanomaterials (NMs). This - review mainly focused on the occurrence surveys on surface water and the associations between exposure to EPs and toxicity of testing organisms. The control strategies and regulation for EPs based on the screening and monitoring methods were also discussed. Future efforts should be made to establish a comprehensive framework to study the adverse effects of EPs on organisms and new policies and legislations should be developed to control the release of hazardous EPs to the environment.