Firstly, this paper introduces the development of new materials, new technology and new manufacture in power industry of China, energy-saving, low noise and smart distribution transformers are widely used in countryside power grid reconstruction. In this paper, application status and development trend of different types of distribution transformers were introduced and compared in terms of new material and new structure, such as oil-immersed distribution transformer, amorphous core transformer(AMT), dry-type transformer, SF6 insulated distribution transformer, composite transformer and other types of distribution transformers. The development of distribution transformer is mainly based on energy saving, miniaturization, wound core and amorphous alloy nowadays, but the class-H dry-type transformer and tridimensional toroidal-core amorphous alloy transformer are the future direction of development. The technology application of smart distribution grid, power electronics technology and dynamic reactive power compensation technique will also affect the safety and economic operation of distribution transformer.