Abstract: Nonylphenol (NP), as an industrial pollutant, has been characterized as high bio-cumulated. The inhabitants were contacted with NP by the means of drinking polluted water, eating polluted meats of aquatic animals and milk. As effected as likely environmental estrogen, it interferes with the reproductive, immune and endocrine systems of many kinds of animals, and induces embryonic toxicity, reproductive toxicity, immunotoxicity and neurotoxicity, etc. Its toxic mechanisms includes:inducing apoptosis, disrupting the relevant genetic expression of embryonic organ differentiation and intercellular signaling, as well as the lipid peroxidation damage of endocrine organs. This study discussed the toxic effects of NP on the organisms and its toxic mechanism from the general and cellular levels.