Abstract: Coal dust, gas and their mixtures exist widely in dust explosion industries such as coal mines and metallurgy, but their characteristics of ignition and explosion are different. In view of this, based on extensive literature research, the test methods, experimental results and influencing factors of the ignition and explosion characteristics of three different combustibles including coal dust, gas and their mixtures were systematically studied. The importance of studying explosion characteristics for preventing and mitigating related hazards of gas and coal dust explosion in industrial environment was analyzed. The results of analysis show that even if the concentration of gas and coal dust is lower than the explosion limit, the mixed explosion may still occur, and the mixture generally has higher explosion severity and explosion sensitivity. The explosion characteristics of gas, coal dust and their mixtures are affected by the concentration of gas and coal dust, experimental environmental conditions and physical and chemical properties of pulverized coal. In the future, the focus of in-depth exploration of ignition and explosion of gas, coal and dust and their mixtures includes chemical dynamics, explosion suppression and mitigation measures, and ignition and explosion characteristics under special conditions.