Abstract: The prospective demand for carbon reduction requires gas turbine combustion chambers to control NO_x emissions, improve power regulation range and fuel adaptability while outlet temperatures are continuously increasing. To address the above challenges, gas turbine manufacturers are developing axial staged combustion technology. This paper firstly introduced the principle of axial staged combustion and analyzed the effects of axial staged parameters, jet-in-crossflow flame morphology, nozzle geometry and fuel type on pollutant emissions and combustion instability. Existing studies show that reducing the equivalence ratio of the primary combustion chamber and enhancing the mixing uniformity of the secondary stage primary combustion chamber can reduce pollutant emissions. The thermoacoustic oscillation of axial staged combustion chambers is complex, and could be inhibited by a reasonable selection of stage parameters. The emission reduction benefits and part-load flexibility of axial staged combustion chambers have been verified in commercial operation. Based on the current research status, key issues and future research directions of axial staged combustion technology are proposed.