The local and tele-coupling relationship between urbanization and eco-environment has received extensive attention from researchers in recent years. Understanding the synergies and trade-off between urbanization and eco-environment systems is essential in addressing eco-environment problems in rapidly urbanized China. Based on a comprehensive literature review on the subject, this article presents the theories, methods and key applications that are associated with the coupling relationship between urbanization and eco-environment. We found that the concept of local and tele-coupling relationship between urbanization and eco-environment has only been developed since two decades ago. Related theories are still in development and applications based on this concept are limited until now. However, from other perspectives, many studies have adopted various methods to investigate the relations between the human and nature systems, providing abundant empirical evidence on the coupling relationship between the two systems. Lastly, future research directions are recommended. It is essential to examine the local and tele-coupling relationship between urban and eco-environmental systems in urban agglomeration areas, which helps enhance our understanding on the dynamic characteristics of involved systems and dominating pathways of evolving relationships in rapidly developed regions in China.