Inkjet printing has become a prevailing printing technology due to its practicability and rapidity. The color inkjet printing as one of the inkjet printing has color comprehensive and high clarity compared with traditional printing. The key point of the color inkjet printing is the introducing of special recording layer which has great influence on the printing quality. However, the printing quality of the color inkjet printing depends on the compositions and performance of the recording layer and the infiltration behavior between the ink and the recording layer. Specially, the theoretical study of the infiltration behavior between the ink and the recording layer is the key to guiding the structural design. In this review, the types and compositions of the recording layer were clearly analyzed, the process and evaluation methods of ink infiltration and the performance evaluation system of the recording layer were also summarized. Ultimately, the current bottleneck and the development trend of the recording layer were put forward.