Abstract: Grinding operation plays an important role in the field of mineral processing. The addition of grinding aids is one of the effective methods to improve grinding efficiency， increase mill production capacity， and reduce grinding energy consumption and steel consumption. The influence of common grinding aids and some new grinding aids on quartz grinding both at home and abroad were discussed. The grinding effect could be improved and obtain the product with ideal fineness by adding proper amount of grinding aids. The mechanisms of grinding aids were discussed from the two representative viewpoints of decreasing hardness theory and regulating pulp rheology theory. It was shown that both the hardness of minerals and the rheological properties of slurry would be affected by adding grinding aids. The two theories complement each other， but the dominant was different according to the situation. The addition of grinding aids had different effects on the subsequent separation behaviors. The grinding environment was changed by the addition of grinding aids. The effect of grinding environment on mineral separation and its mechanism were also briefly described. Based on the analysis of the existing literature， the development trends of the application of grinding aids in quartz grinding were summarized from the six aspects which were the selection of grinding aids， the development and application of new grinding aids with high efficiency， the compound of grinding aids， the matching of grinding aids and grinding process parameters， the effect mechanisms of grinding aids and the influence of grinding aids on the separation behavior. The important to study the effect of grinding aids on mineral separation behaviors were also pointed out.

Key words: Grinding aids, Grinding environment, Quartz, Separation behavior, Development trend