Abstract: The oil leakages on the coastal zone will form a pollution source area endangering the ecological environment for a long time. Under the multi-influences of hydrodynamics, microorganisms and geochemistry, the reducing processes of mass, concentration, volume, toxicity and fluidity of petroleum pollutants are called natural attenuation. This paper systematically reviews the natural attenuation characteristics and research methods of oil pollutants in coastal areas, and clarifies the influences of oil properties, sediment types, hydrodynamic factors, photooxidation reactions and microorganisms on the natural attenuation of coastal oil pollution source areas. The characteristic factors of the natural attenuation process in the source area, such as geochemistry, microbes and geophysics are summarized. At the same time, the prediction methods of the natural attenuation process, the key and aporia of multidisciplinary and multi-data-driven researches are put forward. Besides the study of natural attenuation in the source areas of coastal oil pollution.