Staphylococcus aureus (SA)is one of the common pathogens that can cause bone and joint infection through secreting toxins, biofilm formation and other ways. Because SA can colonize in the nasal cavity and other sites of the host for a long time, it significantly increases the risk of bone and joint infection in hospitalized patients. Decolonization treatment is proved to decrease the incidence of SA bone and joint infection of hospitalized patients. Although classic decolonization drugs (such as mupirocin) show good efficacy, there is an increasing demand for developing other new alternative medicine in clinical treatment due to drug resistance, allergic reaction and other causes. In this paper, the pathogenic mechanism of SA, the correlation between colonization as well as bone and joint infection, etc. are reviewed, so as to provide reference and evidence for the prevention and treatment of bone and joint infection caused by SA.