The hydrolysis reaction and thermal-oxidative degradation tend to occur in the traditional polyacrylamide polymers under high temperature and high salinity conditions, leading to a reduction of polymer solution viscosity with increasing the temperature and salt content, and finally the limitation of their applications. A small amount of hydrophobic groups introduced onto the hydrophilic macromolecular chains of polymers endow them with the special rheological properties and excellent tolerance to high temperature and high salt content. This paper summarizes the research progress of the heat and salt-resistant water-soluble polyacrylamide series in recent years in detail based on different unit construction of monomers. Furthermore, the gelation and profile modification mechanism and research status of the salt and heat-tolerant crosslinking polymers, especially the weak gel flooding agents, were concisely discussed.