The Taihu Lake Basin is one of the most developed，populous and potential regions in modern China and plays a critical role in the national economy. The unique characteristics of plain river network in the basin determine the complexity of water environment and water resources. Under the comprehensive management of water environment，the safety of drinking water in the basin was effectively ensured，and the quality of surface water steadily improved. What we now face is the gap between the quality of watershed ecological environment and the economic society’s ever-growing needs for high-quality development，there is still a long way to go in improving the water environment quality. Based on the water quality of Taihu Lake and Dianshan Lake，the compliance rate of water function areas and pollutant discharges，the effectiveness of comprehensive water environment management was analyzed. Then，through planning，mechanism，environmental supervision，science and technology，capital security，and assessment perspectives，the experience of comprehensive management of water environment in the basin was summarized，and the problems existing in the ecological environment of Taihu Lake and the bottlenecks restricting the deepening of watershed management were analyzed.Focusing on the comprehensive requirements of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects，the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta，and the new requirements for high-quality development and environmental protection，prospects for the next phase of water environment management in the basin were proposed.