Abstract: Purification is a primary application of zone melting, in which the improvement of efficiency, production yield and minimum achievable impurity level are always the research focus due to the increasing demand for high purity metals. This paper has systematically outlined the whole development of related research on zone refining of metals including basic theories, variants of zone refining, parametric optimization, numerical models, and high purity analytical methods. The collection of this information could be of good value to improve the refining efficiency and the production of high purity metals by zone refining.