Soil hydrological process is one of the most important parts of the water cycle. An accurate and effective measurement of soil moisture is the basis of the study of soil hydrological process. Compared with the traditional soil moisture monitoring methods (such as time domain reflectometry, cosmic-ray neutron sensing, remote sensing, etc.), the geophysical methods have the advantages of multi-scale and high precision monitoring without disturbing the soil. Therefore, the popularization of geophysical methods is of great significance to broaden the understanding of soil hydrological process and water cycle. Based on the introduction of the essential principles and characteristics of three commonly used geophysical methods (electrical resistivity tomography, ground penetrating radar, electromagnetic induction), this paper summarized the conversion methods between geophysical parameters and hydrological elements. In addition, this paper focused on enumerating the methods and related cases applied in the study of hydrological processes such as the monitoring of spatial distribution of soil moisture, water infiltration and redistribution and root water uptake. Then, in the last section, this paper discussed the opportunities and challenges faced by the application of geophysical methods in the research of soil hydrology in the future and pointed that the researchers should: 1) continuously clarify the relationship between geophysical elements and soil moisture characteristics to improve the accuracy of inversion; 2) comprehensively use a variety of geophysical methods for cross inversion; 3) couple geophysical models with hydrological process models to provide more reliable parameter estimation; 4) expand the application of geophysical methods in hydrological and ecosystem responses and biogeochemical cycles and other fields.