Social-ecological system is composed of social subsystem and ecological subsystem and the interactions between them, whose structures and functions are different from those of social subsystem or ecological subsystem alone. Social-ecological system is therefore characterized by complexity, non-stability and nonlinearity. At present, dynamic evolutions and mutual feedback mechanisms have gradually become the core contents of social-ecological system research. Achieving effective and sustainable environmental governance requires a better understanding of the complex interdependencies in social-ecological systems. However, the complexity, mutual feedback loops and other nonlinear dynamic characteristics of social-ecological dependence, as well as differences in interdisciplinary research paradigms make it very difficult to conceptualize and understand human-nature interactions in the social-ecological system. With the development of modern graph theory, statistical theory, computer technology, etc., network thinking has gradually been practically applied in analyzing the internal relations of the system. Social-ecological network method has been born as a product of the application and development of network theory in the study of socio-ecological interaction, which has great application potential in quantitatively descripting the system structure, analyzing the system dynamic changes, and promoting adaptive governances. We systematize existing social-ecological network studies and introduce the social-ecological network methods in terms of the type of network, building mode and analysis method. Then the article summarizes the social-ecological network method's applications in the field of natural resource management, social-ecological fit, social-ecological adaptability governances. By discussing the advantage and challenge of the social-ecological network method in the research of social-ecological interaction, we believe that the generalization of the social-ecological system into a network provides an effective way to understand the social-ecological dependence and insight into the behavior of the system. However, currently, the lack of generally recognized social-ecological interaction theory, insufficient practical application cases and researches on the causal relationship between structure and function, etc., still hinder the further development of social-ecological network methods. Finally, we put forward two important directions on strengthening and improving social-ecological network research in the future, that is, to introduce mathematical or physics methods to study the dynamic change process of social-ecological network, and to use more cases to reveal the relationship between the structure and function of social-ecological network. The paper aimed at deepening the understanding that network analysis can be used to describe human-nature relationship, and providing practical guidance for social-ecological network research, to promote a scientific and standardized application of the network method in social-ecological system studies in China.