With the rapid development of modern industry, heavy metal ion waste water, printing and dyeing wastewater discharged from the production process are increasing. Thus searching for more efficient water treatment materials has become an urgent issue in environmental protection. Magnetic chitosan microspheres are emerging water treatment absorbents, which draw lots of attention for their excellent absorption effects on various pollutants and the characteristics of being recovered and reused. More functional properties were introduced by modification. The preparation and relevant studies of magnetic chitosan microspheres, the modification methods, mechanism and application of chitosan and Fe₃O₄ are reviewed in this paper. Furthermore, their future development tendency are predicted.