Coal-water mixture(CWM) fuel has attracted much attention as a substitute fuel for oil by which high economics and short-term commercialization might be realized in comparison with other coal conversion technologies. There are many factors that affect the CWM combustibility, such as the physical properties of CWM, the performance of atomizer and burner, operating conditions, capacity and load of the boiler, etc. Particularly, atomization quality is extremely critical to achieving acceptable carbon conversion efficiency of CWM fuel and maintaining the flame stability, because the coal particles in the CWM droplets burn as agglomerates. This paper presents the R&D results about the CWM atomization characteristics, including the significance of CWM atomization the R&D results about the CWM atomization characteristics, including the significance of CWM atomization quality, the atomization and combustion mechanism, the type of CWM atomizer, size and size distribution of CWM droplets and some factors that influence the atomization performance.