Abstract: Protein succinylation in organisms is a process wherein a succinyl donor covalently binds a succinyl group to one or more protein lysine residues through enzymatic or non-enzymatic means, which leads to significant chemical and structural changes to the modified protein to regulate the metabolism and signal transduction in the cell. In this paper, the site distribution, donor source, succinyltransferase and desuccinylase of protein succinylation modification reviewed and the important role of succinylation in energy metabolism, cell proliferation, male reproduction and autophagy were discussed, aiming to provide a reference to discover more enzymes and substrates related to succinylation modification.