Catalytic combustion of solid propellants plays an important role in the driving system of rocket．Highly effective and balanced combustion action is desired for solid propellants．Generally，adding catalysts in thecomposite solid propellants as modifiers is considered as an accepted way to improve the combustionperformance．Herein，the basic structure specialties of different solid propellants are introduced and the correlationbetween structure—composition and catalytic activity has also been given a short analysis．Based on the documentssearched by CAS or other database，the research history and characters of combustion catalysts are summarized inthe report．Some classic catalysts，such as lead-based catalyst，copper-based catalyst and iron—based catalyst，areexpatiated very well，including their activity features，preparation methods and other characterization．The novelhighly dispersed nano-particles composite catalysts and energetic compound catalysts are the developing directionfor combustion catalysts．