Chemical looping processes are considered a promising pathway for the efficient production of various fuels and chemicals. Temporally or spatially separated reduction and oxidation reaction in chemical looping can offer various advantages such as enhancing energy efficiency, surpassing equilibrium limitations, and eliminating the need for separation. However, the efficiency of the chemical looping process highly depends on the performance of the oxygen carrier. Higher gas conversion can increase separation efficiency and higher solid conversion can reduce the amount of cycled oxygen carrier. The performance indicators are highly related to the thermodynamic properties of the oxygen carriers and their redox kinetics. This review introduces some key articles and recent achievements for the enhancement of such properties. The different research strategies are discussed for enhancing the performance of stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric oxygen carriers. Through the rational design of oxygen carrier material, an energy-efficient chemical looping process is possible.