Rural poverty has always been one of the practical challenges in China. The eradication of poverty is the basis for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and implementing the strategy of rural revitalization. Rural poverty has been a widely researched issue in different disciplines such as economics, sociology, political science, and psychology. From the perspective of each discipline, studies related to rural poverty have been increasing. Nevertheless, the results are short of spatial expression. The spatial characteristics of geography make it highly complementary to other disciplines in the study of rural poverty. In recent years, a large number of research results on rural poverty originated in the field of geography. Relevant research content mainly involves the origin, spatial distribution, and geographical characteristics of rural poverty. This study examined the relevant research results of geography on rural poverty, and summarized the research progress on its connotation and standards, measurement and spatial pattern, influencing factors and mechanism, and anti-poverty strategies, etc. The main problems in the progress of rural poverty research in recent years were identified. Issues and future research focus and directions have been proposed to provide a reference for further research in this field.