Based on the online database of Science Citation Index Expanded, this paper has studied the worldwide literature report about rural drinking water over from 1993 to 2012. The content, trend and theme of the research in this regard were systematically analyzed and evaluated. Since 1991, the related literature about rural drinking water has increased rapidly, which indicates that the publics attention to water quality is gradually increasing. After synthetic analysis of author keywords, keywords plus, titles and abstracts, arsenic and nitrate are concluded to be the most frequently studied pollutants in rural drinking water at present and will continue to be the focus of attention for the next decade. Arsenic concentrations in drinking water in India and Bangladesh are seriously exceeded, which has become the most popular area for drinking water research in rural areas. According to the results of bibliometric analysis, risk assessment, water treatment and water pollution are the current research hotspots. Disinfection and adsorption are the most studied methods at present.