Coronary atherosclerotic heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is a multi-parametric imaging modality that yields high spatial resolution images that can be acquired in any plane for the assessment of global and regional cardiac function, myocardial perfusion and viability, anatomy and tissue characterization, all within a single study protocol and without exposure to ionising radiation. With the development of new technologies, CMR has been much more widely used in diagnosing CHD. The evaluation of myocardial viability based on late gadolinium enhancement CMR is very important in diagnosis and treatment of acute myocardial infarction. This article is a medical review about the application progress of CMR in CHD.