In recent years, the frequent use of fossil fuels in many industrial sectors has led to massive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and a dramatic increase in CO2 levels in atmosphere. The depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, climate change and sharp fluctuations in fuel prices have forced scientists to actively develop the new environmentally friendly fuels. The process of converting CO2 into value-added products is considered to be a possible way to deal with the climate change and high energy consumption. Methanol is an important chemical raw material and energy, the demand in the industry is keeping increasing. In recent years, to comply with the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, the thermal catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 for methanol has been widely studied. There are many sources of CO2 for the industrial production of methanol using, which can be separated from the flue gases emitted from oil refineries, coal refineries, manganese plants, etc. Hydrogen can be obtained from the electrolytic water route for green energy generation, such as solar, hydro or wind power generation. The research on catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol using renewable energy sources cannot only reduce CO2 emissions to a great extent, but also the carbon resources can be recycled and reused, which can effectively alleviate the current energy and chemical raw material shortage in China.In this paper, the characteristics of methanol and the global development of methanol technology in recent years were introduced. The catalysts, preparation process of methanol and the key problems that need to be solved were reviewed. Although there has been some progress in the research of CO2 catalysts for methanol production, it is still difficult to realize the industrialization of CO2 catalysts. The overall industrial cost of CO2 catalytic hydrogenation to methanol is high, among which the cost of hydrogen production is the key factor affecting the process economy. Converting renewable energy such as solar, wind and water into electricity, and then using electrolysis of water to produce the green hydrogen, is currently the ideal research direction. Not only will it not emit carbon dioxide, but it will also consume carbon dioxide, which is in line with the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.