Abstract: In this paper, the significance of the drag reduction forcivil transportation aircraft is briefly illustrated. Drag predictiontechniques for civil transportation aircraft, including ComputationalFluid Dynamics (CFD) tools and wind tunnel experiments, are analyzed andevaluated. Then the review is focused on the present state and perspectives ofthe research on drag reduction techniques, specifically in the fields ofdrag reduction aerodynamic configurations and devices, induced dragreduction methods and friction drag reduction methods. The relatedfundamental scientific and technological problems of drag reduction, such asaerodynamic configuration layout, optimization design and flow control, aswell as the further improvement in CFD and wind tunnel experiment techniquesfor drag prediction are discussed, in the light of the development of civil transportation aircraft in China.