The anomalous X-ray scattering(AXS) has received much attention for the structural characterization of various inorganic substances. This review provides the fundamentals of AXS technique and its potential power for determining the environmental structure around a specific element as a function of radial distance. The usefulness of this method was demonstrated with the selected examples of GeO2-Bi2O3 glasses and a YBa2Cu3O7-x superconductor. The quantitative analysis for the multiphase system by the AXS measurements has also been discussed using the result of Cu2S/CaFe2O4 mixtures.