Faba bean (Vcia faba L.) is one of the world important grain legume crops in the temperate zone and subtropics, and it cultivated in China since 2100 years ago. China is the largest producer in both sowing area and production of faba bean globally. Faba bean becomes an important cash crop in western provinces and underdeveloped mountainous areas of China, due to its effective nitrogen fixation, soil improvement abilities and environmental in the modern cropping systems. Various kind of DNA markers have been successfully carried out in other legume crops such as soybean, common bean and pea, etc. However, the marker assisted genetic studies on faba bean is quite limited. Therefore, studies on origination, taxonomy, genetic diversity, genetic association mapping, breeding and QTL mappings of major traits such as growth habit and disease resistance on faba bean by Chinese and international researches have been reviewed, in order to providing essential information for future researches and utilization of faba bean genetic resources.