There is one-to-one correspondence between contact semi-Riemannian structures ( η , ξ , φ , g ) and non-degenerate almost CR structures ( H , ϑ , J ) . In general, a non-degenerate almost CR structure is not a CR structure, that is, in general the integrability condition for H 1 , 0 : = X - i J X , X ∈ H is not satisfied. In this paper we give a survey on some known results, with the addition of some new results, on the geometry of contact semi-Riemannian manifolds, also in the context of the geometry of Levi non-degenerate almost CR manifolds of hypersurface type, emphasizing similarities and differences with respect to the Riemannian case.