Tea germplasms are strategic resources ensuring the high quality development of tea industry, and raw materials enabling the original innovation in tea science and technology, breeding and development of new products with special characteristics. Studies on tea germplasms are of great value and significance considering the relevance on the innovation and sustainability of tea seed industry. This article reviewed the main progress in the investigation and collection, preservation and cataloguing, identification and evaluation, sharing and utilization of Yunnan tea germplasm resources, as well as the existing problems in the past 60 years. The future development of Yunnan tea germplasm resources was discussed and prospected.