Abstract: The nondestructive evaluation methods for defect diagnosis for substation grounding grids are summarized, including the DL/T standard detection method, resistive network method, network node magnetic induction method, electrochemical analysis and ultrasonic guided wave detection method, which belongs to five commonly used methods nowadays. The nondestructive evaluation method for diagnosis of various defects of the substation grounding grids are classified and compared, and the their situation is also introduced. Based on those works, the development of nondestructive evaluation methods for substation grounding grids fault diagnosis are discussed, then it is pointed out that detection method based on the substation grounding state response of the input and output signals is a research topic worthy of future development.