With the rapid development of the steel industry, the accumulation of steel slag increases year by year, occupying a large amount of farm land and leading the problem of environmental pollution and safety hazards. The current comprehensive utilization rate of steel slag is still very low in China, far behind the developed countries. The low comprehensive utilization rate of steel slag is a stumbling block to the green and sustainable development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Improving the comprehensive utilization rate of steel slag is an imperative way to resolve these problems and to realize sustainable development for the steel enterprise. Steel slag presents porous structure and large surface area; in addition, it is easy to separate from water due to its high density. Therefore, the application of steel slag in industrial waste water treatment has received intensive attention in recent years. This paper systematically introduced the research progress of steel slag resource utilization as absorbent materials for waste water and proposed the important improved method and critical problems for steel slag as absorbent materials.