Abstract: Litsea cubeba is one primary woody oil tree in China, whose essential oil and related chemical composition are applied widely. Selection breeding of improved varieties and germplasm innovation is beneficial for improving the yield and quality and fundamentally promoting the rapid development of L. cubeba industry. In the paper, several aspects such as the biological characteristics of L. cubeba, genetic breeding progress, molecular mechanism of essential oil biosynthesis, bioactive properties and application of essential oil are reviewed, with a view to providing theoretical reference for the subsequent development and utilization of L. cubeba on the basis of summarizing and analyzing the existing researches.