Synthetic musk compounds (SMCs) occur widely in water environments. The aims of this paper were to investigate the occurrence and fate of SMCs in sewage treatment plants (STPs) and surface waters. Total SMC concentrations ranged from 3.69 to 7.33microg/L (influent) and from 0.96 to 2.69microg/L (effluent) in 10 STPs. The SMC concentrations varied with the input source and treatment volume of each STP. Biological treatment processes had a greater SMCs removal effect than chemical treatment, filtration and disinfection processes. The SMC concentrations in surface waters ranged from 0.15 to 16.72microg/L and exhibited similar SMCs occurrence patterns generally. The fate of SMCs in water environments depends on their physical-chemical properties and their concentrations can be predicted from other SMC concentrations due to their similar fates.