Seagrass beds are an important marine ecosystem in both tropical and temperate zones. Seagrasses provide habitat and feeding areas for a diverse marine fauna, yielding a significant value of ecological services. Seagrass beds have declined rapidly worldwide in the past half century; about 2.6×104 km2 of seagrass beds, accounting for 15% of the estimated total, were lost between 1993 and 2003. Planning for seagrass bed restoration is urgently needed at present. In this paper the causes for the decline of seagrass beds are summarized and the main methods for seagrass bed restoration are reviewed. Natural disasters and human activities have resulted in the decline. Important restoration methods for seagrass beds include habitat enhancement, seeding and transplantation. There are three types of transplantation: sods, plugs and shoots with rhizomes. The advantages and disadvantages of these methods are: (1) the habitat enhancement generally costs less but needs a comparatively long period; (2) the seeding method exerts less negative effect on donor beds compared with other restoration methods, although seagrass seeds are difficult to collect and establish; (3) the plug method of transplantation has a high survival rate, but donor beds suffer negative impacts to some extent; (4) less vegetative materials are needed for bare rhizome transplanting, but it can be difficult to anchor the shoot with its attached rhizome into sediment. The condition of both the seagrass source bed and the restoration site, as well as the purpose of restoration should be taken into account when choosing a restoration method. Considering the current situation in China, transplanting of seagrasses is the preferred method of restoration in China’s seagrass beds. Research emphases in the future and prospects for seagrass restoration in China are explored.