Abstract: In this paper some of the existing theories and experimental investigation at home and abroad are briefly reviewed. It is pointed out that the knowledge of magnitude and distribution of earth pressure against retaining wall is not yet complete. Therefore, some experiment are made on the sand backfilled behind a translating rigid wall, and on cohesiva soil for three different wall movement modes: (1) rotation about base; (2) rotation about top; (3 ) translation. Important results are obtained for the distribution and magnitude of the active earth pressures.