Abstract. In this paper, we reviewed several outstanding contributions over the past decade in the field of augmented reality. The papers are selected according to their citation rate in the academic resources of Google scholar. In addition, considering that augmented reality covers several topics, and it has intersection with pervasive computing and wearable computing in concept, only the promising technologies and some prominent cases are concerned. In our opinion, a typical AR application is a solution for special application scenarios, and in most cases a comprehensive system is needed. For simplicity, we divided the technologies adopted in AR application into three categories: acquiring the data of environment, registering the virtual object in real environment and presenting the composite data. At the end of the paper, we discussed the remained problems and future development trend of augmented reality.