Based on the third national census of crop germplasm resources and collecting action, 246 sweet potato germplasm resources were collected from 14 regions in Hunan Province, and a set of rapid and effective nested PCR detection method for sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV) was established to investigate the situation of infection and distribution of SPLCV in Hunan province through the rate of virus infection. The results showed that the infection rate of SPLCV was 8.1% in Hunan, and there are fourteen sweet potato resources contained sweet potato leaf curl virus in the four regions of Shaoyang, Changsha, Yongzhou and Zhuzhou, and the infection rate of SPLCV was17.6%, 14.5%, 7.1% and 6.7% respectively, which had great regional differences. This study was the first time to detect and investigate SPLCV in Hunan province, which provided data reference for the situation of infection and distribution of SPLCV in Hunan province. It also provided important technical support for the preservation, reproduction and subsequent development and utilization of sweet potato resources.