Male sterile is a common phenomenon in the plant kingdom which is important for both plant reproductive biology study and crop breeding research for heterosis utility. Many studies on this issue were reported which were mostly carried out with the model species of Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza Sativa. According to the abortion stages in anther development, plant male sterile can be classified into several types such as degradation of pollen mother cells, early or late degeneration of tapetum cells, critical chemical changes in pollen wall development, failure in anther dehiscence, and other types. Mutations in genes encoding tapetum and pollen wall development most likely create a complex phynotype in microspore development. The results so far obtained indicated that mutations of related genes that are critical for anther and pollen development will create male sterile. This paper is a review on those researches and we hope it can facilitate related studies for a much promising future.