Saline soil occupies about 3% of the global land area and it is a strategically important reserve land resource. However, salt stress not only reduces the osmotic potential of soil water and produces ion toxicity, but also inhibits the balanced absorption of plant nutrients. Soil salt especially affects plant macronutrient phosphorus (P), which greatly reduces its availability and seriously affects crop yield. Therefore, although the lack of available phosphorus is a widespread problem in all soil types, the problem of low phosphorus availability in saline soil is more prominent. Salinity and available phosphorus deficiency are two main abiotic stresses, especially for calcareous soils, plants are often exposed to both stresses at the same time. However, at this stage, the effects of salt and phosphorus are not clearly defined and systematically summarized. Therefore, this paper firstly, summarize the mechanisms of action of salinity in reducing phosphorus effectiveness, then review the mutual, integrated and interactive effects of salinity and phosphorus, and finally, summarize the current strategies for enhancing phosphorus effectiveness in saline soils and give an outlook on their research prospects, in order to provide theoretical support for the mitigation of abiotic stresses and optimal management of phosphorus elements in saline soils in the future.