The reliability and sustainability are very important problems in wireless sensor networks（WSNs）.Recent results of fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control in wireless sensor networks are surveyed from such point of view as topology

energy

monitoring and safety

etc.Several main fault modes are classified

including sensor node faults and network faults.According to system structure of wireless sensor networks

three fault diagnosis methods

self-diagnosis

network-diagnosis and base station-diagnosis are introduced.Relative fault-tolerant control technologies are presented

including redundancy mechanism

multi-route design

dynamic topology control

transport protocol optimization

data aggregation and intelligent method.The problem and future development trend of fault-tolerant control technology in wireless sensor networks are discussed.