With the rapid growth of municipal solid waste production，the government monopoly management system is facing difficulties. The Municipal Solid Waste（MSW）requires effective participation of the public to inject new strength. The study on application of the public participation in the management of MSW is becoming more and more important. This paper focuses on the experiences of United States and Japan and analyzes the issues of the public participation mode in MSW management in China，and then introduces three modes：the government-led participation，the co-operation participation between government and public and the public autonomous participation. With the enhancement of the public participating consciousness and the improvement of the management system，the management of MSW in China is bound to be in the stage of pubic autonomous participation. Finally，this paper provides countermeasures to encourage the public participate in dispose of municipal solid waste in order to alleviate the current difficulties in MSW management.