Toxic organic contaminants are widely released into environment, which cause adverse impact on human health and environment due to their high biotoxicant, persistence and bioaccumulation. Recently, it has achieved some research progresses on the use of nitrate as an electron acceptor for the degradation of toxic organic pollutants under anaerobic conditions. In this paper, we reviewed the recent progresses on the anaerobic degradation of some typical toxic organic contaminants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, single ring or heterocyclic organic pollutants and halogenated organics) under nitrate-reducing conditions. In addition, the next challenges, as well as the new perspectives on this field were also discussed.