Based on analysis of the concept of virtual water and the water footprint, this paper systematically reviews the latest achievements in the three fields of calculation of virtual water of product, regional virtual water trade assessment, and the changing mechanisms of virtual water. In the section on calculation of virtual water of product, the papers electively analyze the virtual water calculation method of the intermediate product and final product, and briefly analyze virtual water calculation cases at national, administrative region, and catchment scales. In the section on regional virtual water trade assessment, the paper analyzes the service condition of two methods, the method moving from top to bottom and the method moving from bottom to top. In the section on the changing mechanisms of virtual water, the paper summarizes several driving force analytical methods, such as structural decomposition analysis. Based on the summary of research advances, the paper discusses problems deserving further exploration and proposes research directions for virtual water in the future, including accuracy improvement of the virtual water calculation model, the effect of price leverage on virtual water, acombined evaluation system for the volume and quality of virtual water, and improvement of the strategy forand optimization of virtual water.