Tight oil is an important target for future oil and gas development in the world and has become an important petroleum resource in North America. The research and application of tight oil and gas reservoir reconstruction technology based on horizontal well stage fracturing technology has promoted the rapid growth of tight oil production at home and abroad, but the ultimate recovery is less than 10%. In order to effectively develop huge tight oil resources, North America (mainly United States and Canada) has studied oil recovery, chemical flooding, gas injection and other technologies to improve oil recovery in tight oil producing areas. The article provides the main research results of the application of IOR technology in tight oil reservoirs for more than 10 years. Firstly, it introduces the typical production characteristics of tight reservoirs, analyzes the factors affecting the productivity, and secondly summarizes the common reservoir characteristics and fluid properties of tight oil reservoirs in North America.Then reviewed the domestic and international indoor simulation studies and field test results of water injection, chemical flooding, gas injection, carbon dioxide flooding and other technologies, as well as the oil displacement mechanism and applicable conditions of various technologies, and obtained the future research of tight oil development. That is , the trends and developments focus on expanding the contact area between oil wells and target layers, increasing the relative permeability of crude oil, reducing the viscosity of crude oil and changing the wettability. CO2 flooding, gas flooding, surface active flooding and (low brine) water and gas alternate injection are the main applicable technology for tight reservoirs . The above research provides some ideas and references for the research and experiment of tight oil in China.