In Economic Geography and Regional Science, regional development theory is the most essential and attracts more and more scholars’ attention. This paper firstly reviews the formation and evolution of classical theories of regional development such as development stage theory, regional convergence theory, regional divergence theory, general model of regional growth and Marxist approach, then discusses the notable developments of regional development theory since the late 1970s,esspatially on the following issues: institutions and regulations of regional development, new industrial space, globalization and transnational corporations , local milieu and localized learning, new trade theory and geographical economics and regional sustainable development. Lastly, the paper concludes that the integration of different approaches and the more intensive case studies will be the main directions to the development of new regional development theory.