Abstract: Ammonia plays a key role in the formation of haze, therefore, controlling ammonia emission from pollution sources is an effective measure to improve air quality, in which livestock is one of most important sources. Through investigating the development process of the ammonia emission inventory of livestock, the application of the ammonia emission inventory of livestock in the United States and China was summarized. At the same time, combined with the measured data of a pig farm, the Chinese guide and the European Union method (EEA method) were compared and analyzed. The results show that (1) there are two kinds of methods to develop the ammonia emission inventory, the total coefficient method and stage coefficient method, respectively; (2) the ammonia emission coefficients of livestock house and storage measured by the EEA method were significantly higher than the results of China's guide and the actual measured results, meanwhile, the results of China's guide were roughly close to the actual measured results. It was attributed to the localization of key parameters, such as total ammonium nitrogen (TAN), in China's guide, however, the accuracy of the inventory is still restricted by lacking of the research on the ratio of ammonia emission in different stages; (3) the structure of ammonia emission inventory parameters can not match with the base quantity of livestock in China. Therefore, it is urgent to further carry out the field measurement of basic parameters, such as the amount of TAN in the livestock excrement, ammonia volatilization rate, and non-ammonia conversion rate, so as to provide the theoretical support for the establishment of indigenization livestock ammonia emission inventory in China.