As a special rice cultivation mode, ratoon rice, once planted and harvested twice, is of great significance for increasing grain yield, ensuring national food security and improving rice field utilization efficiency. This paper reviewed development trends of ratoon rice cultivation in China, analyzed their key affecting factors, elucidated high-yield cultivation techniques, and proposed that under the premise of a good first crop, 150 kg·hm^-2 of urea be applied as sprout fertilizer 15 days after the heading stage of the first season rice, rice stubbles of a proper height be retained in harvesting, and another 150 kg·hm^-2 of urea coupled with P and K fertilizers be applied as seedling prompting fertilizer 3 days after harvesting of the first season rice to ensure balance of soil nutrients for higher yield. In the end, current problems and future directions were discussed. It is considered that researches in future should focus on issues, like industrialization, soil nutrient management, and high yield cultivation techniques for ratoon rice cultivation, quality of ratoon rice, greenhouse gases and water quality in ratoon paddy fields to promote development of ratoon rice cultivation and provide reference for domestic peers in their research.