Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), as a family of transcription factors involved in the cellular response to hypoxia, are key regulatory factors in the regulation mechanism of an organism's response to hypoxia. A large number of studies have shown that HIFs are closely related to the angiogenesis, erythropoiesis, cell metabolism, and autophagy of organisms, as well as the occurrence and development of tumours. Therefore, it is of great significance to further study HIFs to understand and treat tumours or other related diseases. This paper summarises the structure, oxygen-dependent degradation mechanism, non-oxygen-dependent degradation mechanism, transcriptional activation mechanism, relevant signalling pathways, and inhibitors of HIFs, in order to provide new clues for the treatment of tumour, vascular, and other related diseases.