Abstract: As a typical representative of semi-active control devices, magnetorheological dampers have received wide attention in machinery, construction and medical fields because of their low energy consumption, fast response, simple and reliable structure.Therefore, the optimal design of magnetorheological dampers has become a research hotspot for magnetorheological damper damping technology.This paper presents an overview of the structural design concepts and parameter optimization methods for magnetorheological dampers.Specifically, recent advancements in structural design concepts, namely piston shape, damping channel, and coil, are summarized into three parts.Further, three types of widely used parameter optimization methods, namely optimization based on experimental design methods, optimization based on finite element software and intelligent algorithm optimization, are introduced.