The conflict between the arrangement of the cooling towers of the airconditioning system of Metro stations and the surrounding environment becomes more and more serious. In the paper, 4 types of cooling tower arrangement modes, i.e., ground surface cooling towers, sunk cooling towers, closed underground cooling towers and evaporative chillers, are presented. Comparison and contrast are made among the forementioned 4 types of cooling tower arrangement modes in terms of influence on the surrounding environment, technical features, initial investment and operation cost. It is proposed that proper arrangement of cooling towers should be made on basis of the environment assessment results and the specific project conditions.