Many plant species have adapted well to the complex environment through different strategies, one of which is the production of additional secondary metabolites. Terpenoids are one kind of the most complex plant secondary metabolites, existing in almost all plants with many crucial functions. Some of them have significant pharmacological activity, such as immunoregulation, antitumor, lipidlowering and hepatoprotective. In order to explore the fundamentalrules of environmental factors on the plant terpenoids biosynthesis, this review summarizes the factors of terpenoids biosynthesis in plants in recent years, including environment temperature, ultraviolet radiation, light, water, ozone and developmental phases.