River is the soul of a city and an important support for its sustainable development. The Thames River is known as ‘the mother river of England’，which plays an important role in the development of British in history. After the industrial revolution，the river was seriously polluted，endangering people’s lives and health. From the mid-19th century，the British government gradually realized the importance of river pollution prevention，and decided to comprehensively govern the Thames River. After more than 100 years of water pollution governance，the Thames River has now regained its vitality. In this paper，taking the Thames River pollution control as the research case，we systematically analyze the experiences of Thames River pollution governance in Britain，and provide suggestions for China’s water pollution governance in order to further promote the sustainable development of cities in China.