Building materials can be divided into structural materials, decorative materials and some special materials. Structural materials include wood, bamboo, stone, cement, concrete, metal, tile, ceramic, glass, engineering plastics, composite materials, etc. Decorative materials include various kinds of paint, paint, coating, veneer, various tiles, special effects of glass, etc. Special materials are used for waterproof, moisture-proof, anti-corrosion, fire prevention, flame retardant, sound insulation, heat insulation, heat preservation, sealing etc.

The building materials are long sustained by wind, sun, rain, wear, corrosion, etc., the performance will gradually change, and the reasonable selection of building materials is of great importance, which should be safe and durable in the first place. The amount of building materials is very large, which directly affects the cost of the project. Generally, the cost of building materials accounts for more than half of the total cost of the project. Therefore, when considering the technical performance, it is necessary to give consideration to economy.

The definition of the science and authority of ecological building materials is still being studied. The concept of ecological building materials comes from the ecological environment materials. The definition of eco - environmental materials is still being studied. Its main feature is to save resources and energy first; The second is to reduce environmental pollution, to avoid the greenhouse effect and ozone layer destruction; The third is easy to recycle and recycle. As an important branch of the ecological environment material, according to the meaning of ecological building materials should be used in the production of material, process, waste and recycling to coordinated with ecological environment, and satisfy the least resources and energy consumption, minimal or no environmental pollution, the best performance, the highest recycling and utilization requirements design and production of building materials. Obviously, such environmental coordination is a concept of relative and development.

The main difference between ecological building materials and other new-type building materials is that ecological building materials is a concept of system engineering, which can not only be seen in the process of production or use. The evaluation of the coordination of material environment depends on the range or boundary set. At present, all kinds of new building materials called ecological building materials, such as "ecological cement" produced by waste or municipal refuse, are present at home and abroad. But if there is no system engineering point of view, design and production of building materials may reflect in terms of a "green" and is "black", in other ways evaluation unavoidably biased or even misleading.