The Raman fiber laser (RFL) has been developed for 50 years since the first laser generation in fiber based on stimulated Raman scattering in 1972 by Roger H. Stolen. Firstly, the development history of RFL was presented in stages. Through the introduction on classic milestone literatures standing for the significant technological breakthroughs, the general picture of the development of Raman fiber laser technology could be formed. Secondly, based on the recent status of RFL, the representative advanced achievements were selected, together with the novel research hotspots on the random distributed feedback Raman fiber lasers, middle-infrared Raman fiber lasers and ultra-fast fiber lasers. Finally, the future prospects of RFL were discussed, including the laser beam combination, laser diode directly pumped RFL and new mechanism on interactions among fiber nonlinear optics.