Objective To review the advances of target gene therapy of liver cancer. MethodsWe analyze and compare the tissuespecific carrier system or cellspecific gene expressing system from current researches of liver cancer gene therapy. ResultsArtificial synthetic DNA transfer system and modified viral vectors could efficiently transfect target cells and get highlevel expression. The ciselements of alpha fetal protein or albumin gene have been often adopted in the regulation of therapeutic gene and have shown their effectiveness. Some other gene therapy strategies also promised a good future. Conclusion Searching for more specific and universal liver cancer antigens is the key to improve the target gene therapy efficiency. The individual situation is the basis to select the best transfer system or regulatory elements in the future.