Since 1980, with the development of genetic theories and emergence of new experimental equipment and techniques, genetic mapping has undergone three phases, from restriction fragment length polymorphism, short tandem repeats, to single nucleotide polymorphisms. The content of in the genetic map becomes more and more informative. So far, the mapping work has nearly ended, however, the effort to explore new SNPs locus still continues. The genetic map has begun to serve other research purposes and has come to be an indispensable tool to fulfill the "functional genome project". In this review are introduced the development of genetic map and the genetic maps constructed with three groups of main genetic marker. Based on these is a summary of the usage of genetic maps and some problems that deserve attention in the use of genetic map, such as the choice of genetic markers and the affection of chiasma interference.