Cataluminescence(CTL) is a phenomenon of light radiation generated when analyte moleculars were oxidized by catalyst. In the past few decades, CTL has developed rapidly and become a promising detection technique, especially in gas sensing, and has attracted much attention of researchers for its potential versatile applications in emission control, public safety, and enviro nmental protection. The analytical system based on CTL has low detection limit, high sensitivity and simple instrument which easy to operate, which shows huge advantages in the detection of inorganic gases and volatile organic compounds. The library of sensing materials has been greatly enriched to thousands kinds, which contains metals, metal/non-metal oxides, sulfide, metal salts, organic compounds, ceramic, glass and other types of materials; Composite materials have been developed; The decreasing of material dimensions to nanoscale provided new opportunities for its development; The morphology of material has also been explored. Some novel hyphenated techniques based on CTL coupled to other techniques including preconcentration/sepration, nebulization, plasma have been developed, as well as some new CTL technique including static CTL, cyclic CTL and ect. Thanks to development of sensing material and the appearance of these novel techniques, the selectivity and sensitivity of CTL system has been improved, and the range of CTL application has been extended. In this article, the progress made in the field of cataluminescence, especially in latest developments of analytical applications were reviewed. The catalysts used in CTL, the recent novel CTL techniques were sumerized. The future of the cataluminescence was also forecasted.