Hydrostatic bearing is a key part that provides precision and long life to machine tools. It is one of the embodiments of tribology, mechanics, optimization method, and structural design in engineering practice. Articles about hydrostatic bearings since 1990 are collected in this review. Researching status is evaluated in two aspects: basic theory and typical application. This article presents a review of research articles related to introducing developments in hydrostatic bearings. Basic theory contains equations and analysis methods which include analytic, numerical, and experimental methods. Typical applications are based on rectangular oil pad, circular oil pad, and journal bearings. Moreover, this article focuses on the analysis of the relevant model, solution, and optimization and summarizes the hotspots and development directions.