Abstract: The development of the dehydrogenation of propane to propylene，including catalytic dehydrogenation，oxidative dehydrogenation and dehydrogenation in the membrane reactor is summarized and analyzed. Although，catalytic dehydrogenation of propane has been commercialized，the performance of catalysts needs to be further improved. The development of low temperature and high selectivity catalysts is the key issue for propane oxidative dehydrogenation. Compared with the traditional dehydrogenation，the membrane reactor has its advantages in propane dehydrogenation. It can overcome the restriction of thermodynamic equilibrium and shift the reaction to the dehydrogenation direction. So，in the membrane reactor，the conversion of propane and the yield of propylene are very high. If the activity and stability of catalysts for propane dehydrogenation and the hydrogen perm-selectivity of the membrane reactor can be further improved，the membrane reactor is a promising method for the dehydrogenation of propane.