Abstract: There have rich thin coal seam reserves in the world, but only a small portion be extracted. With the decrease of the medium thick and thick coal seams reserves, thin coal seam mining has become a development trend This paper introduces the present situation of world thin coal seam mining. The main mining technologies of thin coal seams are shearer mining method、auger mining method and plough mining method. A discussion is presented about the problems and future development trend of these thin coal seam mining technologies and related equipment.