Abstract: Terpenoids are the most important volatile compounds in citrus fruit，which not only play important roles signal transmission between plant and environment，but also have multiple health benefits for humans. This article reviews the related research on volatile terpenoids in citrus，including the biological functions，specific profiles in different germplasms/tissues，biosynthesis-related genes and citrus taxonomy. The review demonstrates that the current research is limited to compound identification and biosynthetic analysis，and most studies are focused on free volatiles，while fewer reports focused on the bond volatiles，structural genes and regulatory genes，the mechanism of aromatic quality needs to be further dissected. In the future，exploration of the evolution of the metabolism of volatile terpenoids and the function of key genes and transcription factors will be the most important aspects of related research on citrus. In future production，the hotspot of research may be the utilization of citrus germplasms with specific flavors，breeding of new cultivars with the accumulation of specific volatile terpenoids，and improvement of the aromatic quality of certain cultivars.

Key words: citrus, volatile terpenoids, aroma, metabolism