Abstract: With rapid development of the livestock and poultry breeding industry in China, odor from the industry has become a main environment issue that not only arouses complaints from nearby residents and disputes between the residents and the industry, but also seriously restrains sustainable development of the industry. It is, therefore, essential to determine sources and composition of the odor and sum up techniques or methods to determine, characterize and evaluate the odor, which is of great significance to scientific assessment of hazard of the odor and designing of control measures. In this review, compositions and characteristics of the odorants from the industry were collated, main techniques to measure odor compared for advantage and disadvantage, and chief methods to characterize and assess odor discussed. Volatile fatty acids (VFAs), sulfocompound, aromatics (phenols and benzpyrole) as well as ammonia and volatile amine are the key substances in odor from the industry. Methods to determine the odor can be roughly sorted into two types, instrumental and olfactory, of which each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Based on analysis of compositions of the odorants available, key components of the odor from the industry are identified, and continuous in-situ monitoring of odor will be the focus for researches in future. Moreover, as the composition of odor is very complicated, establishment of a reasonable relationship model for mutual conversion between odor concentration and odor intensity may be a workable approach to quantitative evaluation of odor.