The Earth is currently comprised of two major silicate reservoirs, the upper mantle lithosphere is ultramafic in composition, whereas the crust has undergone varying degrees of differentiation and is mafic to felsic in composition. The continental crust provides an important material basis for revealing the geological process and understanding earth history, as well as determining the starting time of plate tectonics. The Archean gray gneiss is mainly characterized by trondhjemite—tonalite—granodiorite (TTGs), and the formation of TTG suite marks the beginning of the transformation from mafic proto- crust to felsic continental crust. This paper reviews the process of partial melting and crystallization differentiation of hydrated basalts to form rigid continental crust. The continental crust growth model mainly includes mantle derived magma stagnant- lid, partial melting of thickened mafic crust, subducted oceanic crust, island arc and ocean floor plateau, whereas the destruction and cycle of continental crust are mainly predominated by meteorite impact, delamination and layered subsidence caused by gravity instability. Plate tectonism further promotes the heat diffusion in the earth, and subduction accelerates the material circulation between oceanic crust and continental crust. Even though less than 10% of the Archean rocks have been preserved today, it is widely accepted that at least 60%~70% of the continental crust formed by the end of the Archean. The evidence of Hf, O isotopes in zircon, Nd, Sr, Ar, Ti isotopes in whole rocks, and Archean craton geological characteristics indicate that the reduction in crustal growth at ca. 3 Ga is attributed to an increase in the rates at which differentiated continental crust was destroyed, and that coupled with the other changes at the end of the Archean are taken to reflect the onset of plate tectonics as the dominant global regime.