Saccharomyces cerevisiae is currently one of the most important foreign gene expression systems. S. cerevisiae is an excellent host for high-value metabolite cell factories due to its advantages of simplicity, safety, and nontoxicity. A promoter, as one of the basic elements of gene transcription, plays an important role in regulating gene expression and optimizing metabolic pathways. Promoters control the direction and intensity of transcription, and the application of promoters with different intensities and performances will largely determine the effect of gene expression and ultimately affect the experimental results. Due to its significant role, there have been many studies on promoters for decades. While some studies have explored and analyzed new promoters with different functions, more studies have focused on artificially modifying promoters to meet their own scientific needs. Thus, this article reviews current research on promoter engineering techniques and related natural promoters in S. cerevisiae. First, we introduce the basic structure of promoters and the classification of natural promoters. This section will help in understanding future studies on promoters. The classification of various promoter strategies is then reviewed. In this section, the research of each promoter engineering strategy is divided into static regulation and dynamic regulation respectively. Finally, by grouping related articles together using various strategies, this review anticipates the future development direction of promoter engineering.