The construction of China Spallation Neutron Source filled the gap in pulsed neutron source and application field in China, marking that China has reached the international advanced level in neutron technology. Based on this, the application of neutron technology in multi-disciplinary fields is summarized, and scintillation materials are divided into organic scintillation materials and inorganic scintillation materials. The research status and application of common and new scintillation materials in neutron detection at home and abroad are reviewed, and the performance differences of different scintillation materials used in neutron detection are compared and summarized. Finally, the scintillation materials for neutron detection and their improvement schemes are summarized and analyzed, and the development trend of scintillation materials is prospected, in order to provide reference for the development of neutron detection technology and scintillation materials in China.