Erythrobacteraceae belongs to the domain Bacteria, phylum Proteobacteria, class Alphaproteobacteria order Sphingomonadales. It was proposed in 2005 and included 3 genera, for a total of 5 species based on phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA genes. As of October 2015, the family Erythrobacteraceae includes 44 species with validly published names in 6 genera. Members of the family Erythrobacteraceae are widely distributed in soil, hot springs, sea water or sediments environments as well as other ecosystems. They have great potentials in pollution bioremediation, food engineering and biological pharmacy. In addition, some members of the Erythrobacteraceae contain bacteriochlorophyll α and are classified as aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria, which play an important role in carbon cycling and energy metabolism in marine environments and have gradually become a research hotspot. This paper reviews the progress in the study of their taxonomic characteristics, ecological diversity, fundamental research for application of the family, and also illuminates future research directions.