The use of fossil fuels leads to a large amount of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions,which has caused a series of environmental and climate problems. The treatment and utilization of the major greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4 have become urgent. CH4-CO2 dry reforming (DRM) converts CO2 and CH4 into syngas,an industrial feed gas,enabling the utilization of both greenhouse gases. Precious metal catalysts exhibit excellent catalytic activity and anti-coking performance for DRM reactions,but their applications are limited due to limited resources and high prices. The catalytic activity of non-precious metal Ni-based catalysts is not only comparable to that of noble metals,but also has abundant sources and low prices.It is one of the most likely to be industrialized catalysts. However,Ni-based catalysts have the problems of easy sintering and carbon deposition. Researchers have carried out a lot of modification work on Ni-based catalysts to improve their catalytic activity,anti-sintering ability and anti-carbon deposition ability. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the DRM reaction and its Ni-based catalysts,the thermodynamics,reaction mechanism and kinetics of the CH4-CO2 reforming reaction were reviewed. Thermodynamic studies have shown that high temperature and low pressure are favorable for the DRM reaction;but so far there is no unified reaction mechanism suitable for all catalysts,and different catalysts have different reaction mechanisms and rate control steps. The main factors affecting the performance of Ni-based catalysts,such as carriers,additives,preparation methods and calcination temperature,were further analyzed. The interaction force and surface acidity and alkalinity have a significant effect,which in turn affects the activity and stability of the catalyst. The progress of Ni-based dry reforming catalysts with new structures was introduced. It is found that the confinement effect of the catalysts with new structures could effectively improve the anti-sintering and anti-coking abilities of the catalysts. Finally,the future research direction of Ni-based DRM catalysts was prospected.It provides new ideas for the design and development of new efficient catalysts in the future.