In order to effectively solve the problems such as data privacy protection and secure search,searchable encryption technology has emerged.Searchable encryption is an encryption technique that protects data privacy and allows search and query in an encrypted state.The research on searchable encryption mainly includes symmetric searchable encryption and asymmetric searchable encryption,etc.Its basic principles include encoding and encrypting keywords,designing corresponding index structures and search algorithms.Searchable encryption technology has a wide range of potential applications in cloud computing,healthcare,finance,and the Internet of Things.Researchers are committed to providing searchable encryption schemes that are more efficient,secure,and scalable.The history of research on searchable encryption and two kinds of searchable encryption technologies are introduced,and the practicability of searchable encryption technologies is analyzed from the perspectives of security and keyword guessing attacks.The urgent problems that need to be solved in this field and the future research directions are also pointed out.These works have played a role in promoting further research on searchable encryption.