The earth pressure acting on the cylindrical retaining wall in cohesionless soils is different from that on the retaining wall in plane strain condition due to three dimensional arching effect. Accurate estimation of earth pressure is required for the design of vertical cylindrical retaining wall. Failure modes of the ground behind vertical shaft are dependent on ground in-situ stress conditions. Failure modes are actually divided into two modes of cylindrical failure mode and funnel-shaped mode with truncated cone surface. Several researchers have attempted to estimate the earth pressure on cylindrical wall for each failure mode, but they have some limitations. In this paper, several equations for estimating the earth pressure on cylindrical wall in cohesionless soils are investigated and new formulations for two failure modes are suggested. It rationally takes into account the overburden pressure, wall friction, and force equilibriums on sliding surface.