The biogeochemical behaviors of V, Mo, Tl and Ga have precious values on studying environmental evolution. In this paper the geochemical characteristics of V, Mo, Tl and Ga in marine sediments was reviewed and the progress on the study of their relationships with sedimentary environment was reported through analyzing the documents published in recent years. The analysis results showed that the contents of V, Mo, Tl and Ga in the sediment of the same sea area were in the sequence as followed: estuarine > inshore > offshore due to the influences of human activities. In surface sediments, the concentrations of V, Mo, Tl and Ga in fine grain size were higher than that in coarse grain size; moreover, they were also related to material sources and the contents of organic matter strongly. In vertical profiles, the contents of V, Mo, Tl and Ga were high in the surface sediments and then decreased with the depth, suggesting that the outputs of V, Mo, Tl and Ga have been increasing with the aggravating of the human activities in the past decades. Consequently, the variations of V, Mo, Tl, Ga contents in the horizontal profiles can indicate the characteristics of material source, and can denote the historical differences in sedimentation fluxes in the vertical profiles. Due to their stable characteristics, V, Mo, Tl and Ga can be used to reveal and mark the environmental evolution to some extent.