The present situations of nickel resources and extraction production were briefly introduced in this paper.The main processes and developments of processing laterite-nickel ore at home and abroad were demonstrated through microbial leaching,microwave pretreating as well as pyrometallurgy for ferronickel and nismatte,hydrometallurgy for reduction roasting ammonia leaching,high-pressured acid leaching,etc.Challenges and industrial prospects for bioleaching are discussed.The researches revealed that hydrometallurgy united pretreating have taken obvious advantages and are key to the successful application on commercially,and microbial leaching methods will have very good prospects for developments in the future.