Nephrotic syndrome(NS) is a group of clinical syndromes characterized by massive proteinuria，hypoproteinemia，hyperlipidemia and edema caused by impaired glomerular filtration barrier，and primary nephrotic syndrome(PNS) is a common type.With the in-depth and extensive research on traditional Chinese medicine，it has been found that traditional Chinese medicine has obvious advantages in the treatment of PNS.The treatment principle of cultivating earth to control water is based on the theory of restriction among five elements in traditional Chinese medicine.It advocates nourishing earth qi to treat water diseases，that is，to cure kidney diseases by strengthening the spleen and stomach.In recent research，the theory of cultivating earth to control water has been adopted to treat PNS，which achieved certain curative effect.Therefore，this paper mined the connotation of cultivating earth to control water from the perspective of “earth” in traditional Chinese medicine treatment of PNS，reviewed the experimental research on single herbs and compound for the treatment of PNS based on the theory of cultivating earth to control water，and summarized the clinical research progress.It was found that cultivating earth to control water alleviated the clinical symptoms and laboratory indexes of PNS，accelerated the decrease of the hormone and reduced the side effects of hormone.Additionally，it had positive significance for the recurrence and prognosis of the disease.