Conventional vapor compression cooling technologies become a challenge because of the high global warming risks. In addition,most of the refrigerant fluids working in vapor compression plants is environmentally harmful. The thermoelectric solid-state cooling is realized by electricity without mechanically moving parts or emissions, offering a sustainable solution to overcome the environmental pollution. However, the thermoelectric cooling efficiency is not competitive, compared with the conventional vapor compression cooling. To improve the efficiency of thermoelectric refrigeration and enhance the competitiveness of thermoelectric refrigeration technology, it is of great significance to develop high-performance thermoelectric refrigeration materials.Recent research work fcous on the thermoelectric refrigeration materials like conventional Bi2Te3-based materials, Mg3(Sb,Bi)2-based materials, IV–VI semiconductors at near room temperature, and Bi1–xSbx, CsBi4Te6, FeSb2 alloys at low temperatures.At near room temperatures, Bi2Te3-based alloy is a kind of conventional thermoelectric material, which has excellent thermoelectric properties. The zT value of Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials prepared by the Bridgman method or zone melting method is approximately 1. The thermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3-based alloys are greatly improved, and the zT value of Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric materials is increased based on developed concepts, mechanisms and preparation methods. The zT value of some p-type (Bi, Sb)2Te3 is >1.5. The zT value of some n-type Bi2(Te, Se)3 is >1. However, the crust abundance of Te is rather low, the tellurium resources are scattered and the cost is high. Mg3X2 (X=Sb, Bi) compound is a kind of layered Zintl phase, which has the characteristics of “phonon glass-electron crystal (PGEC)”, non-toxicity and high abundance of constituent elements.Recent studies indicate that the band gap of Mg3(Sb, Bi)2 alloy decreases with the increase of Bi content, and the peak value of zT also moves to the near room temperature region. Bi-rich Mg3(Sb, Bi)2 alloy shows the excellent thermoelectric properties in the near room temperature region, which is comparable to the thermoelectric properties of conventional Bi2Te3-based materials. The IV–VI compounds such as SnSe have good mid-temperature thermoelectric properties and extremely competitive thermoelectric properties in the near room temperature region.Bi1–xSbx is one of the low temperature thermoelectric materials, which has good thermoelectric properties in the temperatures below room temperature. Bi1–xSbx single crystal has good low temperature thermoelectric properties, but poor mechanical properties, which is easy to cleavage during use. In recent years, Bi1–xSbx polycrystalline materials are developed, whose the mechanical properties are better than those of single crystals, but the thermoelectric properties are difficult to reach the level of single crystals. CsBi4Te6 is a kind of p-type low-temperature thermoelectric material with the excellent properties, but in the preparation process, element Cs with an intense activity is usually used, and toxic formaldehyde is required for cleaning. FeSb2 is an only deep low-temperature thermoelectric material that shows a good prospect near 50 K, and its deep low-temperature electric transmission performance is excellent, but the thermal conductivity is high, and its deep low-temperature thermoelectric performance needs to be further investigated.