The applications of cluster analysis, principal component analysis and factor analysis in research on heavy metal source recognition in soils are summarized in this paper. And the key points of studying heavy metal contamination source recognition and analysis are as follows: 1) combining the GIS technology and multivariate statistical analysis to generate thematic maps of pollution, one can better determine the source of pollutants; 2) the enrichment factors (EFs) can determine the source of a single metal; and 3) taking the advantages of some improved methods can overcome some limitations.