Abstract: The study of hysteresis effects in soil water characteristic curves is crucial for accurately characterizing soil hydraulic properties under wet-dry and freeze-thaw cycles. This review systematically summarized the current research on the causes, influencing factors, evaluation methods, hysteresis models, and applications of soil water characteristic curve hysteresis. It explores the internal connections among various hysteresis mechanisms, the impact of multi-factor coupling on hysteresis, scale and dynamic non-equilibrium effects, as well as the hysteresis under freeze-thaw conditions. Furthermore, it provides an outlook on future research directions, aiming to offer insights for related fields of study.