As one of the strong competitors of traditional displays, quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLED) have attracted much attention in the display field. However, the luminescent materials of high-performance blue QLED devices usually contain cadmium or lead which are toxic and harmful to human health and the ecological environment, and also hinder the large-scale commercial process of QLED devices,therefore, the research and development of high-quality cadmium-free and lead-free blue quantum dots have become the driving force to promote the development of new display industry and the industry’s urgent goals.After decades of development, the blue-emitting performance of cadmium-free and lead-free QDs such as InP and ZnSe has made great progress. With the further optimization and improvement of synthesis strategies and material compositions, the performance of environment-friendly blue-emiting QLED devices is expected to catch up with the pace of traditional red and green QLEDs. In this paper, the current research progress of cadmium-free and lead-free blue-emitting InP and ZnSe quantum dots are systematically summarized including the synthesis optimization methods, surface coating strategies, core-shell structure types, luminescence performance parameters and other aspects. Finally, the future development direction of QLED based blue-emitting materials is pointed out.