Abstract: The composition,phase and morphology of vanadium-bearing tailings from Pan Steel and Cheng Steel were studied in this paper. Combining with the previous studies by others,the valences and possible phases of vanadium in the residue were obtained. By the induction of the research progress of extracting vanadium from low and high valence vanadium tailings respectively from Panzhihua and Chengde,it is concluded that the key issues of extracting vanadium from vanadium tailings are the selective strengthening of the three controlled steps: the decomposition of outer silicate mineral,the structure destruction of residual vanadium iron spinel and the oxidation of low valence vanadium in the tailings. Thus,it is proposed that different extracting methods should be employed according to the characteristics of the specific tailings.