As a modern metropolis, Shanghai has a registered population of 18.8 million in 2011, and the permanent population has been more than 20 million. As a result, Shanghai produces more than 6.3 million cubic meters of sewage per day which is considered as a massive test for Shanghai’s sewerage treatment system. Given the high proportion of time spent on the literature review, this study has investigated how the whole system works in Shanghai. To do this, Shanghai sewerage systems were divided into two parts – the drainage system and the sewage treatment system, and they were introduced respectively following the track of history development process. It was done by combining previously published theses, study reports, governmental documents, overt information by companies and news reports. It showed that, in 2009, Shanghai’s government established a basic formation of six centralized sewage treatment systems in co-existence with 52 sewage treatment plants. In the same year, the sewage treatment rate reached 78.9%, which can be considered a leap compared with the 62.8% figure in 2003. In spite of that, the gap between sewage treatment in Shanghai and that in developed countries still exists. By comparing Shanghai Bai Longgang sewage treatment plant with Halmstad Västra Stranden's waste water treatment plant, it can be concluded that the gap was embodied in differences of inflow condition, relative low discharge standards and poor treatment capability.