The semiconductor microring resonator is one of the most potential candidates to construct very large-scale integrated photonic circuits (VLSI-PCs) since it has compact structure, high-density integration and abundant function. Nowdays it has been widely used in highly selective communication filter, delay line, sensor, microlaser and optical storage, and becomes the hot topic in the fields of integrated optoelectronics, optical communication, and signal processing. Based on the introduced principle of microring resonator, the advantage and disadvantage of laterally and vertically coupled approach were analyzed. Recent advances and application of the semiconductor microring resonator in passive, active and tunable optical filters were discussed.