Laser selective melting (SLM) technology has been widely used in biomedical, aerospace, automotive and military manufacturing industries because of its short processing cycle and easy to form parts with complex structure.SHowever, due to the complex interaction between laser and powder in the forming process, the defects of laser selective melting parts show diversified characteristics, and it is more difficult to control, which limits the development and application of this technology to a certain extent.SThe research on the formation mechanism and control methods of spatter defects is one of the research hotspots in recent years.SThis paper summarizes the relevant research achievements recently, taking powder, molten pool and forming layer as clues, expounds the spatter formation mechanism and control methods in the SLM process from four parts: the influence of spatter on formed parts, the cause of splash formation, the monitoring and control methods and the future research direction, and looks forward to the future development direction.