The comprehensive geriatric assessment CGA is a multidimensional and interdisciplinary evaluation approach for the elderly people that aims to identify potential health problems and functional deficits in multiple aspects of individuals. The current foreign CGA instruments are more standardized and systematic than Chinese including European Assessment System for Care of Old People Multidimensional Prognostic Index Patient - Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System. In China research institutions based on certain theoretical frameworks select evaluation contents of various dimensions and conduct verification of the reliability and validity of the entire scale which mostly applied in single scenarios. Currently domestic and foreign CGA studies focus more on emergency and hospitalized patients with less attention to the elderly population in the community. Furthermore there is a lack of evidence - based medicine evidence and prospective and intervention studies in the implementation of community elderly comprehensive evaluation in China. This review article provides the development and application of CGA instruments in community-dewelling people both domestically and internationally. It also explores the problems currently faced by community elderly CGA research and potential solutions in order to move the front line of preventing and controlling health risks for the elderly delay the occurrence and development of adverse events reduce the burden of care in society and improve the quality of life for the elderly.