1,3-dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is a kind of important chemical raw materials and pharmaceutical intermediates. It is widely used in cosmetics, pharmaceutical, food and other fields. Therefore, it is important to carry out studies on the production of DHA. Biotransformation of glycerol to DHA is the main method for industrial production of DHA. However, there exists substrate and product inhibition, and dissolved oxygen limitation during the production process. In this paper, the progress of DHA biosynthetic pathway, strain improvement, common production process, separation and extraction methods are summarized. In order to improve the strain productivity, it is important to optimize the metabolic pathway and production process, simplify the separation and purification routes in the future.