Due to the remarkable increase of unbalance between power supply and demand as well as load variation, demand response has been widely applied in electricity management in China.Through the use of price and incentive measures, power utilities can guide users to improve their electricity consumption behavior, resulting in effective load management.This paper is intended to make a survey on demand response applications in power system peak shaving, including the feasibility of peak shaving, optimization model and evaluation method.The characteristics of power user's peak shaving are analyzed first.Second, formulation method and the optimization model of peak load management based on electricity price are discussed.Then the paper summarizes the peak shaving researches based on the combination of incentive and price, and the long?term peak shaving considering the participation of demand side resources.The evaluation methods of peak shaving effect by demand response are also introduced.Finally, vistas of this research topic are projected into the future.