Electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction (UOR) is the basic reaction involved in urea-assisted hydrogen production from electrolytic water, hydro-chemical degradation of urea-containing waste water, and direct urea fuel cell. However, because UOR involves a six-electron transfer process, it has slow kinetics, and thus has limited practical applications. Efficient and low-cost electrocatalysts must be developed to promote the UOR reaction process. To this end, many synthesis strategies have been reported in recent years, and great progress has been made in terms of catalyst design and elucidation of mechanism. In this paper, we discussed the details of UOR, along with various control game theories, such as doping engineering, heterostructure construction, defect engineering, alloys, and key reaction intermediates. We also summarized the research progress on UOR catalysts and discussed the challenges and prospects associated with the future development of ureabased energy conversion technology and the corresponding catalysts.