Abstract: Spraying chemical pesticides with plant protection machinery is one of the most effective means to prevent and control crop diseases and insect pests. As a key component of plant protection machinery, spray nozzles play a decisive role in the operation effect. With the rapid development of plant protection machinery in the present era, the types and models of spray nozzles continue to increase, and the selection of nozzles during operation has become more and more difficult. Due to the improper use of nozzles, problems such as the droplets drifting far away or poor deposition structure often occur, making it necessary to study the spraying performance of spray nozzles to provide theoretical guidance and support data for the selection of spray nozzles in field operations. Spray nozzles are mainly divided into hydraulic atomization nozzles and centrifugal atomization nozzles. This article briefly introduces the classification and characteristics of these two nozzles. It summarizes the research progress of domestic and foreign scholars on spray performance, including atomization performance and the characteristics of deposition and drift, and the standard calculation methods of drift potential index are compared and analyzed in this research. Finally, this article puts forward relevant suggestions for the situation that my country’s professional spray nozzle selection system has not yet been established, analyzes the current research on spray performance of spray nozzles, imperfect test benches, and limitations in the use of spray media, and points out the development trend of further research on spraying performance of spray nozzles.