Zirconium alloy coating can improve the accident resistance of zirconium alloy cladding without changing the present fuel system, which is one of the hot research directions to improve the accident-tolerant ability of nuclear fuel assemblies. Cr-based coating is the most widely concerned coating material at the current stage. The development progress and design ideas from Cr coatings to various Cr-based coatings after Fukushima nuclear accident were systematically reviewed in this paper. The selection basis and high-temperature oxidation failure mechanism of Cr-based coating were introduced. The solution ideas and research progress were discussed from two aspects of composition design and structure design. Finally, the development prospect of Cr-based coating on zirconium alloy in the future was proposed. The review has important reference significance for the development and application of the new generation of accident tolerant fuel coating technique in the future.