Salt- bearing passive margins usually develop gravity- driven thin- skinned salt tectonics. Such salt tectonic deformation not only records the geodynamic evolution of the margin, but also has major impact on economically important hydrocarbon resources. Therefore, salt- bearing passive margins attract interests from academic and industrial researchers working on salt tectonics, and are also appearing to the wide geoscience community. Current models of passive margin salt basins generally have an upslope extensional domain and a downslope contractional domain, with a translational domain in between. Recent development of such conceptual models has focused on the variations associated with gravity- driven deformation. Two modes of gravity- driven deformation are: gravity gliding controlled by margin tilting and gravity spreading controlled by sediment differential loading. During the early stage of the margin evolution, sediment differential loading is generally weak due to the shallow water depth and thin layer of sediments. However, margin tilting associated with post- rift thermal subsidence is also relatively small as the margin starts to tilt. Therefore, either gravity gliding or gravity spreading can be the primary control in salt- bearing passive margins. And more often than not, they come together in shaping salt- related structures. Furthermore, the translational domain in the conceptual model has been rarely identified in natural examples. Salt- related structures in the translational domain thus have been thought to be controlled by base- salt relief and variations of sedimentary patterns. Finally, as the conceptual model is static, it is unable to reflect the migration of kinematic domains and multiple episodes of salt tectonic deformation during basin evolution. In summary, recent advances in understanding passive margin salt basins are still in line with the two basic controls, namely margin tilting and sediment differential loading, but with a lot of newly identified variations. Compared with margin tilting, the variations associated with differential sediment loading are relatively understudied thus could be important for future studies.