The classification and influencing factors of modern marine productivity were reviewed at the beginning. We discussed the pros and cons of different paleoproductivity proxies. Based on these discussions, we collected paleoproductivity reconstructions in tropical marine from previous studies and focus on the glacial-interglacial features, periodicity and forcing mechanisms of tropical marine productivity. We found that the productivity in most tropical sites decreased from MIS 2 to MIS 1. The productivity was not always higher in glacial: The glacial-interglacial pattern of productivity turned at MIS 22 in western Pacific. There were remarkable differences between tropical productivity and high latitude productivity. The precession and obliquity bands were more significant in tropical productivity and ~30 ka cycles caused by the superimposing of different orbital cycles were common in tropical. The coccolith based productivity seemed to have a quasiperiod of 400 ka and more researches are needed to discover the relationship between productivity and global ¹³C in this band.