Abstract: The unification of natural resources classification standards is an important and basic work for the development of natural resources management, and is also implementing the requirements and needs of the Ministry of Natural Resources for the unified responsibility of the owner of all the natural resources assets and all the land and space use control and ecological protection and restoration. In this paper, the classification systems of natural resources in China and abroad are systematically reviewed. Based on natural resource science and earth system science theories, we fully integrate the scientific connotation and management extension, and propose the basic framework between the relationship of earth system science layers and hierarchical classification of natural resources in view of the combination with academic theory, law rules and management. 10 first-class and 34 second-class natural resources are divided. Guided by the service goals and based on the existing geological data, we put forward some recommendations from two aspects:the connotation and service objectives of the comprehensive natural resources survey and the survey of surface substrates. The results may provide reference suggestions for the unified management of natural resources, natural resource survey and monitoring system construction, and the unified classification of natural resources.