According to different mechanical characteristics and force transferring principles, cable-supported structures can be classified as cable-supported plane structure,separable cable-supported spatial structure and inseparable cable-supported spatial structure. Cable-supported plane structure includes beam string and truss string, and the inseparable structure contains suspendome,cable-supported barrel vault,cable-supported concrete roof, cable-supported arch-dome and cable-supported latticed shell etc. Then the three main types of cable-supported structures and those specified subdivision structural types were introduced. Furthermore, their researching progresses,engineering applications and researching highlights and trends were also expounded. Besides,as a key structural component in cable-supported structures,the cable is also adopted as the research subject here,with a brief discussion on its researching process and key issues. Finally a brief overview of the overall development of cablesupported structure was given,the future and researching trends were also proposed.