Many countries around the world are suffering from serious problems associated with soil heavy metal pollution, especially developing countries. Heavy metal contaminants in soils mainly result from soil natural weathering and anthropogenic activities such as industrial and agricultural activities, coal-burning as well as transportation. It is widely acknowledged that heavy metal pollution may lead to the deterioration of soil environmental quality and the loss of soil ecological functions. Therefore, the control and remediation for soil heavy metal pollution need to be urgently carried out to guarantee human health and food security. To date, soil amendments are increasingly employed to remediate heavy metal contaminated soils. In recent years, the research progress at an international scale is reviewed with regard to soil amendments used for the remediation of heavy metal polluted soils by laboratory and field-scale studies. A summary is provided with soil amendment types, metal stabilization mechanisms, as well as the influences of soil amendment application on soil properties. At last, future research prospects are put forward to broaden the development of this field. It is expected to provide valuable references for the research and practice of heavy metal stabilization in polluted soils.