Currently, resources to improve the metrology and traceability of fluorescence flow cytometer are relatively limited. To study the technical development of flow cytometer based on fluorescence detection and accelerate progress toward standardization, this paper integrates domestic and foreign literatures. Furthermore, detailed information regarding types of fluorescence flow cytometers, their applications, standardization research progresses, and critical parameters including instrument resolution, scattered light and fluorescence sensitivity, fluorescence linear correlation coefficient, detection limit, accuracy, repeatability, and stability are summarized. Foreign and domestic conventional standards are available for several widely used metrology methods to evaluate fluorescence flow cytometer performance. Various research organizations and application areas have different requirements for flow cytometer performance. A complete and traceable set of metrology standards for characterizing flow cytometry, and corresponding evaluation methods enable reproducible and comparable research communications and discussions between laboratories.