Knowledge management (KM) is supported by many strategies such as business intelligence, collaboration, document management and e-learning (E-L). Thus, it is urgent for organizations to design and develop an E-L system with advanced technologies. The review of basic technologies that support E-L will be in favor of further study on E-L. From perspective of KM, is paper makes a review about the definition of E-L, the relationship between E-L and KM and advanced technologies that support the design and operation of E-L system. Considering the importance of China in developing the technology of E-L, we especially introduce the current development condition of E-L in China. At the end of this paper, we analyze the main trends of the development direction of E-L technology.