Abstract: With advantage of simple configuration, flexible use, easy operation and low cost, household updraft biomass gasifier appears a wide application prospect in wide rural areas in China. However, there are still many technical problems need to be solved in the actual application currently, such as poor material adaptability, lower heating value of product gas, high content of tar and moisture and instability of gasification reaction, etc. In this paper, the working principle of updraft gasifier was briefly introduced firstly, and then the research and application status of household updraft gasifier in China was summarized, the existing problems and the reasons were analyzed comprehensively. Finally, some feasible solutions including strict raw material specification, structure and operation condition optimization of the gasifier, tar removal device addition and gasification mechanism innovation were also put forward, which could provide a guidance for its further development and improvement.