The construction of water conservancy projects is often located in remote or complex geomorphic areas. For the shallow geological survey of the above areas， there are higher requirements for the weight of the drilling rig， the migration ability in the complex terrain and the multifunctional of the drilling rig to adapt to the complex strata. Based on this， the application status of different types of （i.e. vertical-spindle， fully hydraulic with power head， sonic， and portable） core drilling rig in hydraulic and hydropower engineering survey is summarized， and their advantages and disadvantages are compared. In general， the engineering survey drilling rigs are developing in the direction of green， modular and multi-function. For the drilling rig selection in the survey of water conservancy and hydropower engineering should comprehensively consider the characteristics of different types of drilling rigs， so as to meet the specific task requirements such as hole depth， orientation， coring and in-situ test.