Abstract: MgO thin film is widely used as the protective layer in Plasma Display Panel and some other electronic devices because it has good characteristics of secondary electron emission and great tolerance for ion bombardment.In this article,we reviewed main research of the methods measuring the secondary electron emission coefficient in MgO thin film.Basic properties of ion-induced secondary electron emission were also mentioned.Some advices for studying the secondary electron emission induced by ion were proposed.According to the analysis,plused neutralization methods are preferable to measuring the secondary electron emission coefficient in MgO films. Significant variations in secondary electron yield have been observed for different crystal faces of MgO,with MgO（ 111） giving the highest yield. The studies also reveales that the measured electron energy distributions is independent of ion type when low energy ion incoming.