Porous alumina ceramics are widely used in various fields because of their unique characteristics in structure and properties. This article mainly provided an overview of preparation techniques of porous alumina ceramics; besides, the principles and the characteristics of pore-forming agents processes, gel-casting processes, freeze-casting processes, anodizing processes and other common processes in obtaining the required properties of porous alumina ceramics were introduced. Meanwhile, the relevant applications and the performance of porous alumina ceramics were described. The research prospects of porous alumina ceramics were put forward based on the research status at the end of this paper.