The 453,700 km2 (175,200 sq mi) Pearl River Basin drains the majority of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces (collectively known as Liangguang), as well as parts of Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi; it also drains the northernmost parts of Vietnam's Northeast Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn provinces.

As well as referring to the system as a whole, the Pearl River name is applied to a specific branch within it.

The Pearl River's estuary, Bocca Tigris, is regularly dredged so as to keep it open for ocean vessels.

The mouth of the Pearl River forms a large bay in the southeast of the delta, the Pearl River Estuary, the Bocca Tigris separates Shiziyang in the north, Lingdingyang in the south, and Jiuzhouyang at the southern tip of the estuary surrounded by the Wanshan Archipelago.

A 500 kV power line, suspended from three of the tallest pylons in the world, crosses the river near the Nansha Bridge.