Over the past 15 years there has been much effort invested in microorganisms of glacial snow and ice on the Tibetan Plateau.These studies include: phenotypic characteristics of recovered isolates; factors ( dust, temperature, altitude) influencing microbial abundance , diversity and community in one glacier; distribution of bacterial number , diversity, community along ice core depth;similarities and differences of regionally distributed ice core isolates; seasonal variation of bacterial abundance and diversity . The following need further study .Better methods for more information about the diversity , survival mechanism of glacial microorganism;more research about archaea and fungi; microbial resources; relation of glacial microorganisms with biogeochemical cycle and mass balance;research on altitude distribution .