DREB transcription factor is a dehydration responsive element (DRE) binding protein. It can specifically interact with the dehydration-responsive element/C-repeat (DRE/CRT) cis-acting element contained in the promoter region of many stress-inducible genes, and can therefore control the expression of many stress-inducible genes in plant and increase strong tolerance to drought, low temperature and high salt. In this paper we described the relation between DREB transcription factor and DRE/CRT cis-acting element, the functional and structural character, and expression and regulation of DREB. We also briefly introduced the progress of research on DREB gene cloning and identification. DREB transcription factor plays an important role in the expression of many stress-inducible genes in plant, so it thus shows a very broad application future in aspect of increasing strong tolerance to stress. At the same time, we described the DREB complexity in signal transduction and the mechanism for action and expression of gene.