In China, directly dropping high temperature refrigerant into conventional compressor is considered as a dominant technical route for development of moderately high temperature heat pump. Based on this route, selection criteria for high temperature refrigerant were presented with consideration of several influencing factors. Moreover, a set of research methods were built including theoretical calculations and experimental tests. Four high temperature refrigerants from HTR01 to HTR04 were compared and analyzed. In results, firstly, HTR03 and HTR04 belonging to non-ozone depleting refrigerants could bring outstanding environmental benefits; secondly, the condenser outlet water efficiently generated by heat pump using high temperature refrigerants could cover 60°C–90°C;; finally, the feasibility of the technical route and the research methods were proved.