As a high-value carotenoid， lycopene has many physiological functions， such as anti-oxidation， scavenging free radicals and preventing heart cerebrovascular disease. It is widely used in fields such as food and medicine. At present， lycopene mainly comes from natural tomato extraction， and its market application is limited due to the limited production capacity. While the biotechnology represented by synthetic biology has brought the dawn for the innovative production of lycopene. In this paper， the physicochemical properties， physiological functions and production methods of lycopene were summarized according to the relevant domestic and foreign research literature. In particular this paper focuses on the recent research progress in the metabolic engineering， fermentation and extraction of lycopene by biotechnology. The research status of lycopene synthetic biology was systematically reviewed. Finally， the future direction and problems of lycopene production by biotechnology are prospected， so as to provide reference for the related research on the biosynthesis of lycopene.