Abstract: 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．