As an essential element on earth, phosphorus plays a vital role in metabolism. Recently, with the increasingly stringent discharge standards of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), ferric salts have been widely used in WWTPs as chemical phosphorus removal agents. The current research focus is mainly on phosphorus removal technology innovation such as chemical-assisted biological phosphorus removal and side-stream phosphorus recovery, however, the efficiency of phosphorus removal and recovery in WWTPs is still facing many challenges. Therefore, this article reviews the basic characteristics of the the ferric salt dependent phosphorus removal process, sorts out the interaction mechanism between ferric salt and phosphorus, and summarizes the different influence of ferric salt on microbial community structure. This article indicates the prospect of the future phosphorus removal should focus on the symbiotic relationship between microorganisms and different phosphorus minerals, the optimization of the separation and purification conditions of the side-stream phosphorus recovery, and the establishment of a dynamic prediction model of the ferric salts and phosphorus concentrations in WWTPs.