Abstract: The rudder performance is closely related to the ship performance, and the application of high performance rudders has important significance on improving maneuverability and rapidity of the ship. In this paper, the current development and technology status of high performance rudders was summarized from the aspects of effectiveness, efficiency and cavitation performance; the mechanism of action, advantages and disadvantages about four high effectiveness technologies, three high efficiency technologies, three integral effectiveness and efficiency optimization technologies and three anti-cavitation technologies were introduced, and the design schemes of high performance rudders were proposed based on characteristics of different ship types. The above content reveals that effectiveness and efficiency are two conflicting aspects of rudder performance. The integral effectiveness and efficiency optimization has gradually become an important developing direction of rudder design technology. Special attention shall be paid to the impact on rudder cavitation performance caused by pressure distribution, tip flow separation and gap flow of high speed ships. Furthermore, technical trends of high performance rudders are presented based on the current technology status. The analysis and prospect on technology of high performance rudders provide directions and references for the future research and development of high performance rudders.