Receptorlike kinases (RLKs) are a class of singletransmembrane receptors with kinase activity. They modulate plant growth and development by perceiving and transmitting extracellular signals to regulate cellular physiological responses. Plant roots are suffered by a large amount of external stimuli and endogenous developmental signals during growth and development. Plants must integrate these signals and transform into cellular responses to adapt to changeable environmental conditions. RLKs regulate plant root growth and development by communicating with exogenous and endogenous signals as information monitors on plasma membrane. In this paper, we summarized recent studies on the structure, classification and mechanism of RLKs, and highlighted their function and roles in signal transduction in root development, which provides important information for further revealing the function and mechanism of RLKs in plant root growth and development.