Acupuncture anesthesia (AA) appeared in 1950s. It originates with Chinese TCM researchers and is one of important achievements of modern medicine. AA was developed vigorously and applied widely between 1960s-1970s. Due to the objective and subjective reasons, clinical application and research of AA in recent 20 years have developed very little. The paper reviews the formation and development processes of AA, analyzes the advantages and mechanisms of AA and its problems, then provides the feasible advice for the development of AA.