Private tutoring is also known as “shadow education”.Shadow education has become worldwide.From the perspective of micro household decisionmaking，this paper overviews the research on the demand of shadow education and the effect of shadow education.Based on the existing research，it is found that the macro factors such as the development of national education and micro factors such as family，school and individual level，which determine the needs of private tutoring，and the effect of private tutoring has obvious heterogeneity.Finally，the author tries to explain the existing research results from the perspective of economics and sociology，and the future research is prospected.