Abstract: Background oriented Schlieren （BOS） has appeared near 2000 as a variant of the classical schlieren technique. It is a new non-intrusive optical diagnostic technique for measuring the refractive index of complex flows quantitatively. Compared to knife-edge and rainbow Schlieren, BOS is advantageous in terms of optical alignment, systematic calibration, and the dimension of the field of view. The principle and the essential system parameters of BOS are introduced in detail. An overview of recent advances in the BOS technology is presented according to the typical sequence of setting up a BOS system. Finally, recent applications of BOS in super/hypersonic flows, combustion, and plasma flow environments are also introduced.