At present, China's the consumption of ethylene glycol is the most in the world, and the output of ethylene glycol in China is not able to meet the needs, 70% of usage amount needs to be imported. The main production ways of ethylene glycol are "petroleum route method" and "coal chemical route method". The current synthetic ways of ethylene glycol were introduced, which are the "petroleum route method" including ethylene oxide direct hydration, ethylene oxide catalytic hydration, ethylene carbonate synthesis, and the "coal chemical route method" including ethylene glycol two step method. The economic performances of the two kinds of ways were compared and analyzed. It is pointed out that based on China's lack of oil and gas, relatively rich in coal energy, coal to ethylene glycol production technology has been rapidly developing in China in recent years. In particular, dimethyl oxalate to ethylene glycol technology has the characteristics of wide sources of raw materials, high economy and safe operation, but the cost need to be further controlled, and the product quality need to be further improved.