Biomass ash, generated during the thermal chemical conversion of biomass for energy production, is an industrial by-product which is often recognized as a solid waste, but there are some useful elements in the biomass ash such as phosphorus, etc. So through some technology and methods, the biomass ash can be transferred into a useful resource. The paper mainly includes the following aspects: biomass ash composition characteristics, biomass thermal chemical conversion for phosphorus and phosphorus recovery technology from biomass ash. Through these aspects literature review, not only the whole biomass ash characteristics was made clear, but also we think that the idea of phosphorus from biomass ash is feasible, especially for some high phosphorus ash such as sludge ash, meat and bone meal (MBM) ash, etc. So the review about phosphorus from the biomass ash is very important practical significance for biomass energy, biomass ash disposal and phosphorus resource.