Cyber ranges serve as fundamental experimental platforms for cybersecurity research. They provide critical support for security technology validation, professional training, and attack-defense exercises by establishing controlled, reproducible, and virtualized environments. This paper traced the development trajectory of cyber ranges. It begined with early platforms such as the U.S. national cyber range (NCR), Europe’s cyber range federation (CRF), and Japan’s StarBED, illustrating an evolution from isolated, single-function testbeds to collaborative, federated architectures. The analysis further examined the rapid progression within China, highlighting a shift from fundamental technology verification towards integrated, collaborative innovation. Regarding technical architecture, modern cyber ranges demonstrated a multi-layered structure. Core components, including the infrastructure, virtualization, and container layers, leverage advanced virtualization and simulation techniques to construct high-fidelity environments. Key enabling technologies concentrated on three principal areas: automated scenario generation and adversarial interaction, cross-domain coordination, and standardized automated evaluation, collectively forming a robust and comprehensive technological framework. This review concluded that cyber ranges have transformed from static simulation containers into dynamic platforms for capability generation. Consequently, their application has broadened into advanced domains such as federated situational awareness and supply chain security provenance.