O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), one of essential mammalian enzymes, catalyses the transfer of N-acetylglucosamine from UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) to hydroxyl groups of serines and threonines (Ser/Thr) in proteins. O-GlcNAcylation is widely located in cytoplasm and nucleus. This kind of protein post-translational modification is involved in the regulation of many cellular signaling pathways and closely associated with the occurrences and developments of numerous critical illnesses. In animals, OGT is encoded by a single highly conserved gene. However, human OGT includes three different isoforms at least: nucleocytoplasmic OGT (ncOGT), mitochondrial OGT (mOGT) and short OGT (sOGT). All of the isoforms comprise two distinct regions: a multidomain catalytic region and an N-terminal region with different numbers of tetratricopeptide repeats (TPRs), which is closely related to their subcellular localizations. The structures of the catalytic region and TPRs were reported and it was supported that OGT uses an ordered sequential "bi-bi" mechanism though the details of catalytic mechanism were not completely understood. To discover the inhibitors of OGT, several OGT activity assay methods were developed. The conventional method uses a radiolabeled glycosyl donor substrate such as UDP-[3 H]-GlcNAc or UDP-[ 14 C]-GlcNAc so that it is not suitable for in vivo test or rapid analysis. O-GlcNAc antibody-based western blot was performed to measure the activity of OGT in vivo, but it is infeasible to determine low abundance protein with single O-GlcNAc. Three high throughput activity assays were reported: ligand displacement OGT assay, protease-protection assay strategy and azido-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (azido-ELISA). The first two methods have especially been used to find new OGT inhibitors through screening compound libraries, but the results have to be verified by the conventional method. To date, OGT inhibitor activity of several candidates was evaluated and as found, two of them {2-acetamido-1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-2-deoxy-5-thio-α-D-glucopyranose and 4-methoxyphenyl 6-acetyl-2-oxobenzo[d]-oxazole-3(2H)-carboxylate} worked effectively in vivo and were valuable for understanding the functional roles of OGT. Nevertheless, there are still important questions to be answered in the research of OGT: (1) What is the general base that catalyzes O-GlcNAcylation reaction? (2) How can OGT recognize so many protein substances with the preservation of substance specificity? (3) How can we develop robust high-throughput OGT assays and isoform-specific OGT inhibitors? In conclusion, there is a long way to go for comprehensive understanding of OGT.