Under the background of global warming, the severity, duration, and influencing scope of drought disasters in China are all increasing in recent years. Meteorological drought is a prerequisite for the occurrence of drought disasters. On the basis of clarifying the causes of meteorological droughts, it is of great scientific significance to improve the drought early warning ability, to propose drought disaster coping strategies and defense measures. This study comprehensively sorts out the research progress of the causes of meteorological drought in China. Firstly, in view of the regional differences in the drought formation causes in the various regions, the causes of drought are summarized respectively in Northwest China, North China, Northeast China, East China, South China, and Southwest China. Considering the time persistence of drought, based on the seasonal drought, two-season drought, and three-season drought, the main influencing factors on the formation of meteorological droughts with different durations in various regions are summarized respectively, from the aspects of cooling and warming flow transport, geopotential height field, and sea surface temperature field anomaly. Secondly, the scientific problems and future research directions on causes of meteorological drought are put forward. In previous studies, the analysis of drought causes mostly considered a single influencing factor, or considering the multiple influencing factors, but there is a lack of in-depth elaboration and research on the synergy between multiple factors. The contribution rate to drought formation and the quantitative relationship between these multiple influencing factors are urgent to study.