Adhesion of bacteria to an oil-water interface have been mainly applied to bioremediation of hydrocarbons pollution, oil exploitation and refining, food processing and etc. The related studies have aroused widespread interest among researchers. The paper firstly elucidates the mechanism of bacterial adhesion to oil-water interface, which is based on extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory, and then the effects of cell surface properties, oil phase and water phase on bacterial adhesion. Finally, it introduces a few applications of bacterial adhesion in Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR), bioemulsification, biodemulsification, and biodegradation of hydrocarbons. The further research directions in this field are also proposed.