In recent years, there has been a major breakthrough in shale gas exploration in Sichuan basin and its vicinity by SINOPEC, but the commercialization process of exploration and development is influenced by low penetration rate, long drilling cycle, high drilling cost and bad well completion quality in this area. In this article, the main challenges in shale gas horizontal drilling are summarized, air drilling limited by shallow formation water, low ROP due to large diameter of directed section, frequent circulation lost, hole deviation by air drilling and poor cementing quality in horizontal section with oil based drilling fluid. Aiming at the above challenges, the technical countermeasures are proposed in 6 aspects: shallow formation water control, test of directional drilling with foam drilling fluid, prevention and treatment for circulation lost, development of anti-deviation device for air drilling, cementing of shale gas horizontal well and research and application of multi-well pad drilling technology. All these can provide reference for the research on shale gas drilling technology and construction.