Soybean (Glycine max) is an economically important pulse crop for livestock feed, human consumption and industrial use as a source for production of biodiesel. However, soybean yield is detrimentally affected by soil salinity around the world. To cope with soil salinization, in addition to soil remediation, approaches used in genetically modifying soybean genotypes to increase their productivity under saline conditions are also of importance. Thus, it is crucial to unravel the mechanisms controlling soybean responses to soil salinity in order to improve soybean performance with high salinity tolerance. Knowledge of the regulatory network for salt tolerance in model plants, including Arabidopsis, and the publically available soybean genome sequence has accelerated identification and functional analyses of genes regulating soybean responses to high salinity. This review presents an update of recent works on genetic studies of salt tolerance and the mechanisms regulating soybean responses and tolerance to soil salinity. We also discuss the effort and progress that have been made in the last decade toward developing high salt-tolerant soybean varieties with improved productivity. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.