Hot galvanizing technology is currently an effective method for corrosion protection of steel materials, but much hot-dip galvanized slag will be produced during the process of hot galvanizing. The hot galvanizing slag is an intermetallic compound generated by Fe dissolved in zinc solution and Zn or Al in the zinc solution at high temperature. Hot-dip galvanized slag is a secondary zinc resource of high use value as it contains plenty of metallic zinc. However, hot-dip galvanized slag can not be used for industrial production directly, hence shall be recycled. Currently hot-dip galvanized slag recovery process can be roughly classified into fire process and wet process. Mechanism and research progress of the two recycling processes for hot-dip galvanizing slag were introduced in detail. Process principles of melting smelting, distillation, vacuum distillation, chemical and electrolytic methods in existing recovery process for hot-dip galvanizing slag were expounded, and characteristics of these recovery and purification processes were summarized. Characteristics of the final zinc products obtained by different recovery processes as well as differences in the equipment used in the processes were clarified. Advantages and disadvantages of existing zinc slag recovery process were further analyzed by comparing the fire and wet methods. Finally, it was pointed out that taking overall advantages of the existing recovery process for hot-dip galvanizing slag, and developing new, high quality, low energy consumption, high efficiency and environmental friendly recovery process were the development trend of recovery process for hot-dip galvanizing slag in the future.