Rare earth elements are important tracers in probing the source of ore-forming fluid and discussing the process of hydrothermal mineralization. As a calcic mineral, fluorite is one of the most important gangue or ore minerals present under various temperature conditions in many hydrothermal deposits. REE³⁺ tends to enter the crystal lattice of fluorite, attributed to the similarity of ion radius and crystallochemistry between Ca²⁺ and REE³⁺. In addition, fluorite is a significant medium in the study of hydrothermal deposits. The rare earth elements in the fluorite are susceptible to the source of fluid, the condition of leaching rocks during migration and evolution, the chemical composition, redox conditions and the form of transportation in the fluid. Besides, the rare earth elements content and relative geochemical parameters of fluorite, such as ∑REE, LREE/HREE ratio, Eu, Ce, Y anomaly, Ta/Ca-Ta/La diagram, Y/La ratio and mode of occurrence of REE²⁺ (except Eu²⁺), and other rare earth element geochemical characteristics could provide important geological information concerning the source, physico-chemical property and the evolutionary process of the hydrothermal fluid, and they could also provide message crucial for developing metallogenic model and making inferences about the metallogenic potential of the regions in which they occur. However, with the development of the microanalysis technology, the in-situ trace element analysis of fluorite implies that it is probable that the distribution of trace elements (including rare earth elements) of fluorite is inhomogeneous at the micro level, which might result in the questioning of applying rare earth elements, obtained by the solution method, of fluorite in the hydrothermal deposit to probing the geological information. Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to the comprehensive study of fluorite in microstructure, fluid inclusion and isotopic analysis before applying the rare earth element geochemistry to probing relevant geological issues. Thus, in this paper, the authors summarized recent status and progress in rare earth elements geochemistry of fluorite, and discussed the dominant mechanisms leading to inhomogeneity in rare earth elements distribution in fluorite tentatively, looking forward to providing more valuable reference for rational understanding of rare earth element geochemistry of fluorite in the hydrothermal deposit.