Abstract: Due to the limitation of automatic seedling separation and pick-up techniques, the development of full-automatic transplanter is slow with the high cost and poor adaptability. It cannot meet the practical requirements and be applied on a large scale. In this paper, current developments are discussed regarding to seedling separation and pick-up device in China. According to working principle, pick-up devices for plug seedlings can be classified as ejector type, clamp type, pneumatic type, combined type and chain or tape type, and separation and pick-up devices for naked seedlings can be divided into chain or tape type, outer groove wheel type, pneumatic type, vibration type and clamp type. Furthermore, the existing problems are analysed and the development trends are put forward to improve the automation and intelligence of seedling separation and pick-up device in China.