Although the incidence of prosthesis joint infection(PJI) is low, it is one of more serious complications recognized by joint surgery because of the difficulty in diagnosis and treatment, so it is very important to diagnose PJI in time. Currently, clinical diagnostic techniques for PJI are immature, and each technique has certain limitations in terms of sensitivity or specificity of diagnosis. In general, the diagnosis of PJI relies mainly on clinical symptoms, laboratory tests and imaging examinations. The detection of pathogenic microorganisms is the basis of laboratory diagnosis and clinical treatment. The results of microbial susceptibility testing are also the main basis for the clinical application of sensitive antibiotics to treat PJI. However, the current positive rate of PJI pathogen culture is not high. In comparison, polymerase chain reaction(PCR) technology does not depend on the premise that unknown microorganisms can be cultured in vitro, and it is rapid and highly sensitive. Therefore, the use of genetic technology, especially PCR technology to diagnose PJI has become one of the current research hot spots. In order to understand the research and development of PCR diagnostic techniques for joint prosthesis infection in recent years, in this paper, the research progress of genetic technology is reviewed, especially PCR technology in the diagnosis of PJI.