Peanut is an important oilseed crop in China,and oil content is an important quality trait and breeding target of peanut.One percentage point increase in peanut oil content is equivalent to an increase of two percentage points in yield,and oil process-ing profit can be increased by seven percentage points.This study outlined four predominant methods for phenotyping peanut oil content.The genetic characteristics of oil content in peanut were quantitative traits under polygenic control,that were affected by additive and dominant effects,and influenced by G×E interaction.There were 124 QTL reported for oil content,with 36 major effect loci by(phenotypic variation explained)more than 10%.Eight major effect QTL on A03,A05,and A08 can be consistently identified.A consistent genetic map of oil content in peanut was constructed,with a hotspot region on the 33.59-50.24 Mb of A08.In addition,the research progress of lipid synthesis and the regulatory mechanisms of associated genes was detailed.This review aspires to provide theoretical guidance for the genetic improvement of oil content and the breeding of high oil varieties of peanut.