The liquefaction of biomass is an important technology to converse the biomass into valuable biofuel. The common technologies for liquefaction of biomass are indirect liquefaction and direct liquefaction. The indirect liquefaction refers to the Fischer–Tropsch (F–T) process using the syngas of biomass as the raw material to produce the liquid fuel, including methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, and dimethyl ether. The direct liquefaction of biomass refers to the conversion biomass into bio-oil, and the main technologies are hydrolysis fermentation and thermodynamic liquefaction. For thermodynamic liquefaction, it could be divided into fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction. In addition, this review provides an overview of the physicochemical properties and common upgrading methods of bio-oil.