China’ economic and social development have stepped into “new normal”. In geological drilling industry, which is the main supporting technology for geological survey and mineral exploration, capital investment is significantly reduced and the workload sharply decreases with surplus production in conventional drilling construction; on the other hand, new service areas are expanding for geological drilling, including deep scientific drilling, geothermal energy and unconventional energy exploration, marine, geological disaster prevention, ecological environment, the moon and the polar, etc. How to cope with the new situation is a challenge for the whole drilling industry. Based on the investigation and analysis on the difficulties, challenges and opportunities for geological drilling both at present and in the coming period, the paper prospects the future development of geological drilling in China, the workload of geological drilling will be further reduced; while in new areas and new industry status, the demand for drilling engineering and advanced drilling technologies as well as equipments will further increase. The geological drilling application will be closer to the national demand with more attention to environmental protection idea.