With the development of modern industry, the demand of steel products is increasing. Due to the active nature of steel surface, the formation of rust layers is inevitable during surface treatment, transportation and storage. However, the corrosion of steel had negative effects on the performance and service lifetime for the steel materials, and caused huge waste of resources. In order to enhance the performance of steel products and prolong their service lifetime, surface treatment and protection should be considered. However, before surface treatment and protection, the rust layer should be cleaned out. Industrial pickling is one of the common methods for rust removing. Due to the corrosive characteristic of the used pickling liquors, the phenomenon of over-pickling is inevitable, which may cause the waste of metallic matrix and generate pollutants, including acid mist and pickling waste liquor. In this paper, based on the analysis of the origin of pollution, the methods to enhance cleaner pickling level in industry were discussed and summarized, from three aspects of addition of corrosion inhibitors, selection of the suitable technological parameters and improvement of pickling facilities. Additionally, the factors influencing the above three aspects were also discussed. Aiming at enhancing the effect of whole process of pickling industry, the concept of cleaner pickling was proposed, furthermore, the problems which needed to be considered in the future were indicated.