Retailing walls are the kind of walls that are constructed to restrain soils to non-natural slopes. The main reason for constructing a retaining wall is to use it to bind soils between different elevations. They are constructed in a number of areas. Some of the places are where the land-scape needs shaping and engineering severely for specific functions such as roadway overpasses or hillside farming. Another area where they are constructed are where the slope undesirable.

These walls come in many types. Common examples are gravity, cantilever, anchored, and piling walls. Their purpose is supporting a wedge of soil. The retained soil tends to shift downslope because of gravitational pull. As such, the design and construction must be done in a way as to counteract this tendency. Gravitational pull results in lateral earth pressure in the supported material. How much pressure is generated varies with the angle of friction and cohesive strength of retained material.

The ability of gravity walls depends on their mass to resist pressure behind. They get made of heavy material including concrete and stone. Batter setback may be incorporated to improve their stability so that they lean back toward the material that is being held back. The dry-stacked variety of gravity walls are made flexible and in areas prone to frosting, the footing is not made rigid.

Gravity walls dominated in most sites during the first half of the twentieth century. Big stones and concrete were used in their construction. During the second half of the century, gravity walls started to be made using composite materials. Gabions, crib walls, and soil-nailed walls were the major construction materials in use. Rocks are used to fill stacked steel wire baskets to construct gabions.

Cantilevered retaining walls are constructed from an interior stem made from cast-in-place concrete, mortared masonry, or steel-reinforced. Cantilevered walls sometimes get buttressed at the front side. The back may also comprise of a counterfort to enhance the strength of the walls necessary for resisting lofty loads. Buttresses are made in the form of wing walls placed perpendicularly to the main wall trend. These walls need less material to construct compared to gravity walls.

Tight spaces and soils that are soft are suitable with sheet pile retaining walls. This variety is made from various materials including vinyl, wood planks, and steel, which are driven underground. About two thirds of the material stands above the ground while a third is driven underground. The measurement of material driven underground and the one remaining above may be varied depending on the situation.

Bored pile varieties of these walls get made by assembling sequences of bored piles. This is preceded by excess soil in the site being excavated. Some of the materials that may be included in the construction are soil enhancement operations, shotcrete reinforcement layer, reinforcing beams, and earth anchors. Bored pile walls are built in situations where sheet piling walls can be built but vibration and noise levels are unacceptable.

A lot of evolution has occurred in construction styles. The methods of reinforcing the walls are also many and diversified. Some of the commonly used retention methods employed are cellular confinement, soil-strengthening, soil nailing, and gabion meshes.