The rapid development of the global economy inevitably caused the rapid consumption of fossil resources and serious environmental pollution problems. Hydrogen plays an increasingly important role in energy supply and environmental protection as a clean energy, water electrolysis is a way to produce hydrogen on a large scale, so it is very important to enhance the efficiency of water electrolysis for hydrogen energy production. How to improve the electrolysis efficiency of water electrolysis technology has been widely concerned. During electrolysis, the gas produced at both ends of the electrode can go in one of three directions: out of the cell, dissolved in the electrolyte, or attached to the electrode. However, in the electrolysis process, the bubbles attached to the electrode will seriously affect the contact area between the electrode and electrolyte, which directly reduces the electrolysis efficiency. Therefore, reducing the residence time of bubbles on the electrode can effectively increase the contact time between electrolyte and electrode and improve the efficiency of hydrogen production. In this work, the recent progress in promoting the separation of hydrogen and oxygen bubbles from the plate during electrolysis is reviewed. The nucleation, growth, coalescence and separation of bubbles are studied from the aspects of plate properties, current, solution concentration, and external physical field, and the characteristics of various methods to enhance bubble separation are discussed and summarized. The electrolytic efficiency can be improved and the energy consumption of electrolysis can be reduced by promoting the bubble separation on the electrode. The future development direction and route are prospected, this provides fundamental insight and direction for the future design of the bubble separation technology in water electrolysis.