The smart morphing aircraft can autonomicly change its aerodynamic shape in order to adapt to a variety of flight environments in real time and improve the whole fight efficiency,which is widely considered as a tide for the future aircraft, so it becomes a big hotspot in the research field of aeronautics at home and abroad in recent years,many researchs surrounding the smart morphing aircraft are just at the beginning or in critical process. According to the actuator style, the smart morphing aircraft can be classified into two catalogues, including rigid transmutation and flexible transmutation, for each style, this paper reviews the phylogeny, summarizes the advantages and disadvantages in detail,and identifies the critical challenges and methods to enable morphing. In the end,there is a prospect for the development and application of smart morphing aircraft in the future.