In recent years, global warming issue has been a major environmental concern, so the treatment or utilization of the greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4 have become a matter of urgency. Given this realization, dry reforming of methane (DRM) provides a comprehensive utilization of methane and carbon dioxide, which has been investigated systematically. In CH4-CO2 reforming reaction, Ni-based catalysts are widely used and promisingly industrialized due to their outstanding features and low price compared with precious metals. In this paper, we emphasize the recent accomplishments in catalyst design for DRM reaction, particularly focusing on the influence of supports, promoters, and preparation methods on the DRM reaction with nickel-based catalysts. We also present a review on the catalytic mechanistic and kinetics of the DRM reaction. Furthermore, this review looks ahead the major challenges and opportunities of nickel-based catalysts in DRM reaction research. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.