With economic development and the increase of energy consumption, surface water acidification has been a potential environmental concern in China. Here, we analyzed variations and trends in surface water pH of 73 sites from ten river basins in China from 2004 to 2014 with nonparametric Seasonal Kendall test method. Our analysis showed that the variations of surface water pH in China ranged from 6.5 to 9.0 in the past decade (2004–2014), which satisfied the water quality criteria in pH for protection of aquatic ecosystems in China (6.0–9.0) and USA (6.5–9.0). However, significant decreasing trends in surface water pH were found in 31 monitoring sites, which were mainly located in Haihe River, Taihu Lake and Yangtze River, while the pH value showed significant increasing trends in 22 sites, which mainly were located in Songhua River and Pearl River. Our results suggested the increased potential acidification of susceptible water bodies in China. Besides the control policy of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions, the emissions of nitrous oxides (NO x ) should also be reduced to protect the aquatic systems in China.