With the development of the ocean satellite remote sensing technology, the reanalysis of past oceanic observations using modern data assimilation technique and the restructuring of the long-term and consistent gridded data products have made great progress. Such datasets provide us with the most primary research tools to identify the state and evolution of ocean, and understand the role of ocean in climate change and variability at different spatial-temporal scales. In this paper, the current research status in the global reanalysis datasets including some of international global ocean reanalysis projects and the corresponding reanalyzed products were systematically reviewed. In addition, the present status of the domestic research of ocean reanalysis datasets was briefly introduced. The validation of the reanalysis datasets and some quality problems represented by the reanalyzed products, and the Ocean Reanalyses Intercomparison Project were systematically reviewed. Moreover, the prospects of the studies of oceanic reanalysis in the future were also discussed in this paper.