Since the introduction in 1980 inductively coupled plasma (ICP) has become an universal technique with high resolution and sensitivity, lower detection limits, and minimal sample consumption for inorganic especially heavy metal element analysis and is widely used in the determination for large ranges of samples. The hyphenated techniques of ICP to mass spectrometry (MS) largely promoted the technology for inorganic multi-element analysis. This paper reviewed the theories, performances, ways to reduce spectral interferences of ICP-MS and related hyphenated techniques from 32 related references in the analysis of heavy metals in plants, so as to provide valuable references for the technology of heavy metal analysis in plants.