In recent years, researches on brain mechanisms of emotion regulation have made much progress, along with multiple utilization of the brain imaging. New theoretical model of neural mechanisms of emotion regulation has been proposed, bringing with an alternative perspective of emotion regulation. The research focus has been extended from conscious emotion regulation to unconscious or automatic emotion regulation. The range of emotions in this field is expanded and more attention is focused on specific emotions, changing from negative and positive emotions to sadness, anxiety and so on. Emotional regulation strategies becomes much more clear and various, and the research focus are no longer limited to neural correlates of reappraisal and suppression, more attention are being paid to neural networks of distraction or self-distraction. Furthermore, the target research groups are extended to clients of affective disorders, and the relationship between abnormalities in neural mechanisms of emotion regulation and the occurrence of affective disorders is becoming an important issue in this field. In addition, concerns about individual differences in brain mechanisms and their implications for clinical diagnosis and therapy are also arising. In order to promote the research in this field, the present article makes a full introduction of research results on brain mechanisms of emotion regulation, and future research directions are also proposed