Abstract: Alkaline water electrolysis is the most mature hydrogen production technology of water electrolysis,because of the use of nonprecious metal catalyst,so the cost is low,and has been widely used. However,the adoption of non-precious metal catalyst leads to its low electrolysis efficiency and working current density,which limits its development and application. Therefore,this paper mainly summarizes the methods of effectively improving the catalytic activity of elements by nitriding,phosphating,sulfurizing and alloying,so as to obtain high-performance catalytic materials. The application of density functional theory can design catalytic materials,and obtain high-activity catalytic materials more efficiently and conveniently. Finally,the future development direction of non-precious metal cathode materials for alkaline electrolytic water is summarized.