Coal combustion will continue to be a major component of energy production in the foreseeable future, owing to its abundance in China. A primary challenge will be to seek ways to utilize the coal resources in an environmentally acceptable manner. This paper presents the coal combustion scenario and its related air pollution in China. Some commonly used technologies for removing the pollutants from coal combustion had been introduced after comparison of its utilization efficiency, engineering investment-, and operation expense. In order to cost-effectively reduce the pollutant emission, it is necessary to enhance the coal utilization efficiency by implementing large-scale advanced technologies and increasing the coal-washing rate. There is dire need for indigenously developed techniques for the pollution control to reduce the engineering cost. The development of low-cost, low water-consuming flue gas desulfurization technologies, low-cost technologies for reducing NOx emission, and low-cost advanced technologies for inhalable particle emission control, must be predominantly paid attention. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.