Abstract: Residual stress will be induced into the materials by some machining forming processes, such as casting, forging, welding, spraying and so on. Residual stress is the major cause of the failure of components, and the accuracy measurement of stress state of the components has important significance for the control of the product quality. The principles and methods of residual stress measurement for metallic materials were introduced briefly, and the theories and standards of both sin²ψ method and cosα method for residual stress measurement were mainly described, and the developing trend of residual stress measurement in the future was prospected.