Abstract: Submarine canyons, the most remarkable landforms around the sea-land boundaries characterized by deep grooves, are globally distributed on continental margins. As the major vehicles for transportation of terrigenous clastic materials from land to deep sea, they are the key sites to study the regional source-sink systems, sea level fluctuations, tectonic evolution, and formation and accumulation of submarine oil and gas resources. This paper is devoted to the origin and evolution of submarine canyons on a global scale. Firstly, we briefly introduced the key research results of submarine canyons on the earth. Secondly, we summarized the regional structural background and origin of submarine canyon group in the northern South China Sea and Monterey Gulf. Thirdly, based on the major control factors, we described three types of submarine canyons: the strong-erosional type, the river-related erosional type, and the tectonic-headward-erosional type. Some new ideas are included for the classification of submarine canyons, exploration of deep water resources, and further study of paleoclimatic and tectonic evolutionary models.