This article reviewed the performance requirements of tubular photobioreactor design, discussed various growth conditions that affect the cultural efficiency of photobioreactor, including efficiency of solar energy utilization, efficiency of CO2 utilization, environmental temperature, and dissolved oxygen, indicated that the effcient and self-adjustable algae liquid cycle hybrid system is very important in high-density algal culture, and suggested that the ability of self-cleaning in photobioreactor wall is the key to determine whether the photobioreactor can be used for industrial production.