Abstract: This paper describes research on rose plant regeneration and genetic transformation in the last 20 years. Rose plants could be regenerated by both organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis, but somatic embryogenesis was mainly used for the regeneration of transgenic rose plants. Foreign genes, such as reporter genes, disease-resistant genes or color-related genes, were successfully transferred to roses via agrobacteria or through microprojectile bombardment. Difficulties in rose genetic transformation and future research directions are also discussed.