Abstract: Cassiterite is easy to slime in the grinding process due to its brittle， the efficiently recovery of micro-fine cassiterite was difficult to achieve by gravity separation. Although flotation is the preferred technology for the recovery of cassiterite slime， the flotation result is not satisfactory at present. In view of the current situation of micro-fine cassiterite， the types， characteristics and applications of collector and inhibitor were summarized. Problems of cassiterite collectors in flotation were introduced， and the importance of developing new reagents， developing composite reagents and reducing the cost of reagents were pointed out in order to find the flotation reagents with high efficiency， low toxicity and low cost in a real sense.

Key words: Micro-fine cassiterite, Flotation, Collector, Inhibitor