Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of arrhythmia clinically, which has high morbidity and mortality, and needs early intervention. Radio-frequency catheter ablation (RFA) has been widely used to treat AF throughout the world, with the trend to become first-line treatment of AF. Numerous studies indicate that RFA has great advantages in treating AF and is free of side effects of drug-induced cardioversion. There is a total success rate of 73.3%, but still nearly 26.1% recurrence rate exists clinically. To reduce recurrence rate and investigate the recurrent predictors are significant for clinicians to identify patients and choose appropriate treatment strategy. In this paper, we reviewed the predictors of recurrence following RFA of AF in the following aspects: the basic indicators, clinical characteristics, pathological anatomy factors, clinical biochemical index, ablation procedures, postoperative management, and so on.