Defined here as "essentially in place calcareous deposits created by sessile organisms", organic reefs are favorable place for hydrocarbon and some ore reserves due to the well-developed pore and cavity, and therefore its study is full of practical significance, and gets more and more attention. Organic reefs, with a long geological history, are diverse and complex in structure, composition and form, resulting in fierce debate on classification. The identification criteria for organic reef are often characterized by reliance on subjective features such as wave-resistance and so on, therefore resulting in sharp disagreement on reef recognition for more than 100 years. All these are in fact the resultant of the basic problems such as concept, definition and meaning of terms. The confusion of these aspects seriously hindered the study of organic reef home and abroad. During the past 20 years, great progress was made in the study of organic reef, especially in the identification criteria, which are placed on the objective characteristic of the type of sedimentary support, which largely determines the sedimentary composition of the deposit. It extended the study scope and depth for the organic reef to a large extent. Hence, the introduction and review of the current study is important for our research on organic reef. Therefore, this paper, based on the current documents home and abroad, is to introduce the history and current study result of organic reef; summarize the widely acceptable concept and definition, and the classification according to the structure supporting; review the growth process, controlling factors and the relation with environment, as well as bioconstruction in different times and reef geochemical study.