Distance education is a term that has been developing for many years, but it only reached great dimensions in the beginning of the 20th century, mainly, with the use of information and communication technologies online. Through bibliographic research it is intended to present the advancement of distance education in the world and in Brazil, describe the evolution, showing that it started by exchanging correspondences until reaching the use of the internet, with synchronous or asynchronous interaction, verifying the most used platform for distance education, demonstrate the increase in the number of people enrolled in this teaching modality in addition to the main trends that the authors expect for the coming years. Distance education has great chances of gaining acceptance in the academic environment, however it is necessary that people know how to work with the technologies involved in the process, that is, be part of digital inclusion, and that both institutions and the State provide cultural and financial incentives for this alternative of knowledge transmission, because only in this way will we be able to achieve the goal of education, which is to eliminate people’s social exclusion.