Methane as the main component of natural gas, has been widely used in power plants, natural gas automobiles, and the synthesis of numerous compounds. However, the leakage and emission of methane can induce severe environmental issues due to its strong greenhouse effects. The reaction temperature of direct combustion of methane is so high that is often accompanied by high-temperature by-products, such as NO_x, which would cause air pollution issues. Catalytic combustion is an efficient and eco-friendly treatment technology for methane emission control, and the key for this technology is the development of efficient and stable catalysts. This paper reviews the recent research progress on noble metal catalysts and non-noble metal catalysts for methane combustion. The noble metal catalysts have excellent low-temperature activity and various carrier selections, but their high cost and easy agglomeration restrict the industrial application. Non-noble metal catalysts have low cost and excellent thermal stability, but their light-off temperature is high, which can only be used for high-temperature applications. Industrial exhaust gas often contains a large amount of water vapor and trace SO_2. To meet the demand of long time and stable industrial applications, the H_2O and SO_2 poisoning resistances of methane combustion catalysts still need to be improved. In addition, this paper summarizes the recent research progress on active species and reaction mechanism for methane combustion, and then discusses the prospect of noble metal catalysts and non-noble metal catalysts for industrial applications and the future research directions for methane catalytic combustion.