The semi-hydrogenation of alkynes is of great significance for the production of polymer-grade ethylene, styrene and fine chemicals in modern industry. Due to the advantages of low cost and high activity, nickel-based catalyst has shown promising prospects for selective catalytic hydrogenation of alkynes in the last decade. This paper reviews recent advances in the semi-hydrogenation of alkynes over nickel-based catalyst. Combined with the reaction process and mechanism, the main factors affecting the activity, selectivity and stability of nickel-based catalyst are introduced. The basic approaches of regulating the properties of nickel-based catalyst are summarized, including monatomization, alloying with metal/nonmetal, modification by organic ligands, construction of core-shell and metal-support interaction structures. The drawbacks and the resolution strategies of nickel-based catalyst for the semi-hydrogenation of alkynes are discussed as well.