Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) is a type of psychological visual stimulation experimental paradigm that requires participants to identify target stimuli presented continuously in a stream of stimuli composed of numbers, letters, words, images, and so on at the same spatial location, allowing them to discern a large amount of information in a short period of time. The RSVP-based brain-computer interface (BCI) can not only be widely used in scenarios such as assistive interaction and information reading, but also has the advantages of stability and high efficiency, which has become one of the common techniques for human-machine intelligence fusion. In recent years, brain-controlled spellers, image recognition and mind games are the most popular fields of RSVP-BCI research. Therefore, aiming to provide reference and new ideas for RSVP-BCI related research, this paper reviewed the paradigm design and system performance optimization of RSVP-BCI in these three fields. It also looks ahead to its potential applications in cutting-edge fields such as entertainment, clinical medicine, and special military operations.