Abstract: The earth surface system is the part of the earth system that is most closely related to human beings. The study of surface processes is becoming more and more important in earth system research. The innovative application of geophysics and geodesy to surface processes has gradually become a new interdisciplinary development direction. Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) observation technology is widely used in the study of surface processes because of its characteristics of high accuracy, all-weather, large range and quasi-real-time. In this paper, the application of GNSS technology in the study of surface processes is briefly introduced from the aspects of long-term crustal deformation, coseismic and post-seismic deformation, atmospheric precipitable water, load response, magma and volcanic activity, landslide monitoring and reflection measurement, and then the future development is discussed. The advantages of GNSS in observation technology highlight the importance of GNSS in the earth surface processes research.