Abstract:With the development of the precision manufacturing industry, the requirements for the forming difficulty and the surface precision of the workpieces are continuously increasing. The parts and components standards that are generally produced by Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining equipment can not meet the needs of highend industries such as aerospace, shipping, and rail transportation. Focused on the technical field of error detection and error compensation for CNC machine tools, the application of laser interferometers, ballbar instruments, plane gratings, Rtest, and machine vision measurement instruments were specifically described. The compensation technology of geometrical error, thermal deformation error and cutting force error of CNC machine tools were analyzed, and the application of machine vision technology in error detection and compensation of CNC machine tools was summarized. Finally, combined with the problems still in need to be solved in the error detection and compensation technology of CNC machine tools, the prospect of improving the precision technology of CNC machine tools is forecasted.