The paper clarifies the concept of underground works with shallow overburden, expatiates on the basic principle and development trend of method of undercutting with shallow overburden and presents the principles of construction by means of method of undercutting with shallow overburden. Furthermore, the paper makes a description and comparison of the construction outline, applicable scope and condition, advantages and disadvantages of the different construction methods of undercutting with shallow overburden, which include full crosssection method, top heading/bench method, center diaphragm (CD) method, cross diaphragm（CRD） method, double side drifts method, as well as central drift method, columndrift method, side drift method and pilebeamarch (PBA) method suitable for tunnels withsuperlarge crosssections. Finally, the paper summarizes the outline of tunnel construction by means of method of undercutting with shallow overburden so as to achieve emphasis effect.