Dizziness is the most frequent chief complaint in neurological clinic. Regarding the position of etiology, dizziness is divided into central dizziness and peripheral dizziness. Although it accounts for 25% only, the central dizziness draws great attention from clinicians because of its complex clinical condition and poor prognosis. In recent years, with the concept and coverage of the dizziness changing, those of central dizziness also change correspondingly. Most scholars hold that dizziness include vertigo, disequilibrium without vertigo, presyncope (near-faint), psychophysiologic dizziness. Correspondingly, central dizziness includes central vertigo, central dysequilibrium without vertigo, central presyncope, and central psychophysiologic dizziness. In this article, we introduced the concept, location, characteristics and common subtypes of central dizziness; we also reviewed its research progress.