With the continuous improvement of urbanization level and the increasing urban spatial density, the urban heat island effect is intensifying, resulting in the increasing range and intensity of extreme climate, which poses a threat to the physical and mental health of urban residents. Urban heat island effect has become a focus of multidisciplinary research. This paper reviews the technical development of the existing research methods on heat island effect, analyzes their advantages and disadvantages, and their applicability on different scales. This paper presents the street valley scale as an important method to study the heat island effect of compact city, and analyzes the influencing factors of heat island effect under this scale. Finally, according to the existing problems in the current research process, the research progress and development trend of urban heat island at street valley scale are proposed from the aspects of data and evaluation methods. The purpose of this paper is to provide a reference for the in-depth study of urban street valley heat island effect under the background of compact city development model, and to provide an effective way to mitigate urban heat island effect.