The prevalence of malnutrition in surgical patients is high, particularly in elderly, oncologic, critically ill and morbidly obese patients. In recent years, as the concept of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) has gained in popularity, the concept and strategy of nutritional care for surgical patients has also evolved. The concept of nutritional management is relatively new in surgical patient management, which promotes integrating the "nutritional screening-assessment-diagnosis-treatment" (NSADT) scheme into the preoperative, intraoperative, postoperative, and post-discharge processes of disease treatment and rehabilitation. This article will review the practice of perioperative nutrition management in surgical patients in China.