Somatic hybridization is a technique,which can induce fusion of plant protoplasts from different species,genera or even families and then obtain regenerated plants by culture in vitro.As an effective technology,protoplast fusion can overcome the physiological barriers to hybridization in traditional breeding,realize the recombination of nucleoplasmic genes between different materials,and transfer excellent genes,create and obtain new germplasm containing target characters.At the same time,it can rapidly create male sterile materials,and greatly shorten the breeding cycle.It is an effective means of crop breakthough breeding,and also a powerful tool for character improvement.The paper reviewed the development history,research and application areas of this technology on vegetables;summarized emphatically the research progress of protoplast separation regeneration and somatic cell hybridization in vegetable crops of Cruciferae,Solanaceae,and Apiaceae;looked forward the application prospect of somatic cell hybridization technology in vegetable crops;and discussed the problems and countermeasures in application of this technology,so as to provide reference for the wide application of somatic cell hybridization in vegetables.