Electronic detonators not only improve delay accuracy and the flexibility of initiation network design, but also realize the full lifecycle safety control of detonators from production to transportation, storage, and blasting operation. Therefore, electronic detonators are the key development direction of the civil explosive industry. This study summarized the development status of the electronic detonator initiation technology from the aspects of electronic detonators' structure, application scenarios, intelligent level, blasting design theory, and failure mechanism. Our study indicates that electronic detonators will develop toward serialization and standardization, the electronic detonator initiation technology will develop toward more intelligence, the electronic detonator delay design theory will develop toward short delay, and the electronic detonator initiation network will develop toward a large scale. Based on engineering practices, we summarized the technological and application problems of electronic detonators, including frequent occurrence of misfire detonation, disconnection between detonation research and application, limited product types, and a defective standards system. Considering the demand of the civil explosive industry, we proposed the following key research directions: theories of precise delay-controlled blasting, integration of information technology with electronic detonator initiation, series of differentiated electronic detonator products, and standards systems of electronic detonators.