Background　General anesthesia can affect the functions of the respiratory system through several ways. Mechanical ventilation is the major factor, it can lead to volutrauma, barotrauma, atelectasis, biotrauma, et al lung injuries. Many lung-protective ventilation strategies have been proposed and proven to be beneficial to the treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).　Objective　To discuss the principle of lung-protective ventilation strategies and their application in surgical patients under general anesthesia. Content To elucidate the mechanisms of lung protective ventilation strategies in lung protection and summarize the current situations and related risks of these strategies in clinical application. The major strategies include: small tidal volume, end-positive expiratory pressure (PEEP), lung recruitment maneuver (RM), open-lung strategy, inverse ratio of inspiratory time to expiratory time, reducing the concentration of inhaled oxygen, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), high-frequency ventilation, pressure control ventilation (PCV).　Trend　Further studies are still needed to reasonably and individually combine the strategies to achieve better lung protection for patients under general anesthesia.