Liver failure is a threat to human health. The survival of patients has been increased with the improvement in both diagnosis and treatment. Several major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of liver failure have been made in recent years,as follows: the EASL-defined diagnostic criteria for acute-on-chronic liver failure have been validated in the Eastern population,defining more accurately those who need liver transplantation; the diagnostic criteria for acute kidney injury in patients with liver dysfunction have been updated,and the new criteria are able to discover patients with kidney injury earlier; the neurohumoral regulation mechanism and factors predicting the efficacy of vasoactive agents in hepatorenal syndrome have been gradually determined; the concepts of use of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and β-receptor blocker in liver failure are undergoing fundamental changes.