5-Ethoxymethylfurfural (5-EMF) is considered as a new generation of biomass liquid fuel and fine chemical with important potential. The recent research progress on the synthesis of 5-EMF from biomass resources and its derivatives is summarized. The reaction pathways and mechanism of synthesizing 5-EMF from biomass materials such as cellulose are described. The characteristics, preparation methods and catalytic behavior of heterogeneous acid catalytic systems are introduced and the latest catalytic technology for the synthesis of 5-EMF is emphasized. On this basis, the future development direction is to directly convert biomass into 5-EMF in one step.