Surface water pollution has become a hot issue in recent years in that deterioration of surface water quality has hampered the sustainable development of China's economy. Previous studies have analyzed regional changes of water pollutants, but very few have studied at a national scale. By analyzing 9 water quality parameters recorded at 422 sampling stations nationwide, this studies summarized the spatial and temporal variations of surface water quality in China in "11th Five-Year Plan" period. Research showed that China's surface water quality is improving. But, further deterioration in several areas cannot be ignored. Human activities including over-urbanization and farming exerted a negative impact on surface water quality. Though the water quality in the upstream of major rivers located in northwest China was relatively better than that of other areas, deterioration of surface water quality has begun to emerge in the area. Additionally, the surface water quality in southern China was better than that of northern China. But some studies indicated that surface water quality was likely to worsen at a high speed. It was also found that different water quality parameters are characterized by spatial and temporal variations. These studies pointed out, the government should pay more attention to in the areas where the water quality parameters significantly exceeded the national standards. These studies provides theoretical basis for the decision-making and implementation of macro-scale water quality control policies.