China’s railway covers a broad area, the geological environment and climate along the line are complex and variable, the operation and maintenance of railway are facing tremendous challenges. As an integral part of railway, the maintenance of ballast bed has always attracted considerable attention, nevertheless, the variety and uneven distribution of rock materials, as well as the single ballast material standard and selection in China, which don’t take into consideration factors such as geological conditions and climatic environment, bring a host of issues to railway construction and operation and maintenance. To deal with this problem, this paper summarizes railway ballast selection methods and methodology around the world, compares the ballast material selection criteria for complex environments, summarizes novel ballast materials, and explains the indicators and test approaches used to quantify ballast performance in the standards. Comparing the ballast materials and their matching selection standards in various countries, the main conclusions of this paper are as follows: (1) For the existing ballast specification problems in China, the ballast materials can be considered to be selected according to the geological and climatic factors along the railway line; (2) There is still no method to accurately and rapidly measure the density of ballast bed without damaging it. (3) To achieve the goal of double carbon, novel ballast materials such as construction solid waste and industrial solid waste can be considered on new or modified lines where conditions are favorable.