Gene therapy has rapidly emerged as a promising method for the treatment of numerous diseases. However, the intrinsic deficiencies of gene-based drugs, such as enzymatic degradation in the body, poor membrane penetrability and lack of target ability, have limited the development of its therapeutic application. Herein, it is important for efficient gene therapy to develop efficient and safe gene vectors that can deliver the gene-based drugs to targeted cells. This paper reviews the current development in gene delivery vectors, especially summarizes the characteristic and development of viral vectors, non-viral vectors and nanoparticles with tracing ability.