According to the increasingly stringent environmental protection requirements and the implementation of the mandatory emission reduction regulations in the world, energy saving and emission reduction becomes popular in the development of the shipbuilding industry, and thus the application of the new energy in ships has attracted the continuous concern. The current research presents the application of the common new energy sources, such as wind energy, solar energy, new power batteries, nuclear energy and wave energy, on ships, and analyzes the current status of the application of the new energy ships at home and abroad. The existing technical shortcomings and development directions are proposed by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the various new energy ships. The development trend of the new energy ships has been prospected according to the current level of the scientific research: the intelligent and environment-friendly ships powered by the various new energy sources will gradually replace the traditional diesel ships, and the new energy ships will also enter the stage of the rapid development in the future.