Abstract: Cables and wire ropes are mostly employed in the structure of cable-stayed bridges, suspension bridges and arch bridge. Its effective metallic loading area determines the safety of the bridge. Based on the analysis of the bridge cable structure and its working condition, main problems in nondestructive testing of bridge cables are described in this paper. Then, the possible method for NDT of bridge cables including their characteristics and limits are given. The acoustic emission testing method can be used in the cable on-line condition and only can give relative results of different cable conditions. The radiography and magnetic testing methods can scan along the cable, but the complicated auxiliary apparatus is required. The magnetostrictive guided wave testing method can detect far flaws of cables, which include the anchorage zone, but its signal interpretation requires complex knowledge. In the last, a blind zone free NDT method for the bridge cable which is to combine rapid scanning and magnetic precise testing together is proposed. The above research work will advance further development of nondestructive testing technique for the bridge cables.