Contemporarily, the gravitational wave has played an important role in the field of astronomy. A systematic review of the gravitational wave is presented in this paper. Primarily, the principle of gravitational waves is introduced in both Newton and Einstein’s concept of gravity. Besides, we deduced the solution of Einstein’s field equation. Moreover, we described the detection of gravitational waves with the mechanisms of the two gravitational wave detectors LIGO and Virgo Finally, the applications of gravitational waves are discussed in detecting black hole mergers, neutron star mergers, gamma-ray burst, and core-Collapse Supernova explosion. The gravitational wave could contribute to more scientific findings in the future and solve more mysteries of the Universe.