Abstract: Substrate is considered as one of the main sources of biological variation in periphyton. The diversity of the substrates contribute heterogeneity to the micro-habitat of periphyton. The periphyton responses to water-body nutrition changes depend on natural substrate  to some extent, and the dependence can caused varied contributions of periphytic productivity. On the other hand, artificial substrates can be used in studies, with unified incubation time, material, structure and size so as to simplify the impact factor. Thus artificial substrate is available in the discuss on the effects of nutrition, light and other factors. The diversity of natural substrates and their influences on periphyton were reviewed, the behaviors of different artificial substrates in periphytic studies were compared, and an outlook of artificial substrate application in future were given