Abstract: Cotton plastic film mulching cultivation technology has improved the water utilization rate and cotton yield. With the continuous use of plastic film, the content of residual film in cotton field is increasing, which has caused serious “white pollution” and affected the planting and yield of cotton. Before PE film is replaced, mechanized recycling is a necessary means to solve the pollution of residual film. This paper introduces the research status and characteristics of residual film recovery machinery from the aspects of film lifting device, film picking device, film stripping device, film collecting device and impurity cleaning device. The application of residual film recovery machinery in cotton field is analyzed. There are some problems, such as low recovery rate of residual film in plough layer, low separation efficiency of membrane impurities, weak adaptability of working parts, unstable operation quality and so on. According to the characteristics and production practice of residual film, straw and soil, the research and development direction is proposed to develop full plough film recovery equipment, improve membrane impurity separation device, innovate profiling technology of working parts, and improve the level of intelligent monitoring.