Abstract: ARF-GEF (ARF guanine nucleotide exchange factor) as one kinds of small G protein regulation factor plays an important role in plant organ development, morphogenesis and signal perception. These proteins are ubiquitous in eukaryotes and are conserved in evolution. Recently, the research on ARF-GEF has become one hot spot in the field of developmental biology. In order to provide domestic researchers with knowledge in this field, the recent research literature data were collected and summarized with 67 references. This review compared the differences of subcellular localization between ARF-GEF in animals, plants and yeast, and analyzed the evolutionary relationship between different ARF-GEF subfamily proteins. Besides, the mechanism of its function in vesicle transport system was summarized to provide reference for domestic researchers in this field.