His ancestral home was in Tong'an County, Quanzhou (now part of Xiamen City). Since Tong'an was formerly part of Nan'an County, he was also referred to as a native of Nan'an. Su Song's father, Su Shen, was a renowned literary attendant during the reign of Emperor Renzong. He served as an official in Runzhou Danyang (now part of Jiangsu) and died in office. Su Song moved to Danyang with his father and thus also referred to himself as a native of Danyang.

Su Song received a rigorous education from a young age, diligently studying and mastering the classics, history, and various schools of thought. His knowledge was extensive, encompassing fields such as cartography, yin-yang theory, the five elements, astrology, geography, and materia medica. In 1042, he passed the imperial examination and became a jinshi. As a prominent historical figure, Su Song's primary contributions were in the fields of science and technology, particularly in medicine and astronomy.

During his tenure at the imperial library, Su Song, along with Zhang Yu-xi and others, was commissioned to annotate the Kaibao Bencao. In the process of compiling and revising, Su Song and his colleagues proposed the creation of a materia medica book with illustrated medicinal plants, to be published alongside the Jiayou Materia Medica. This proposal was quickly approved by the court, and Emperor Renzong ordered Su Song to lead the project. Su Song, with his vast knowledge and rigorous scholarly approach, considered that "consulting various texts and gathering diverse opinions would make the work easier; however, if the writing were done by different hands, the style would lack consistency." He ensured that all morphological descriptions in the book were recorded, even if they contradicted previous theories. If there were connections to existing literature, he grouped them based on similar forms. He also collected many folk remedies and appended them to entries of drugs with similar effects. The book was finally completed in 1061.