Abstract: CO₂ dry fracturing technology, as a new waterless fracturing technique, has become an important research direction in tight oil and gas development in recent years. However, based on literature research, it is found that CO₂ dry fracturing technology is not yet mature, mainly due to the low viscosity of liquid carbon dioxide or supercritical CO₂ , which leads to significant fluid loss and poor proppant carrying capacity. It requires thickening agents to significantly increase the viscosity of CO₂. Considering the limitations of silicone-based thickeners that require a large amount of co-solvent and other thickeners with unsatisfactory thickening effects, as well as poor temperature and pressure adaptability, this paper provides an overview of the research progress on thickeners for CO₂ fracturing fluids, focusing on branched silicone-based thickeners (with little or no co-solvent) and fluorinated thickeners from the perspectives of thickening mechanisms and thickening characteristics. In the thickening characteristics section, the structural and performance characteristics of these two types of thickeners are summarized. Additionally, the paper reviews the application of liquid CO₂ and supercritical CO₂ dry fracturing technology in China. Finally, the future research directions for CO₂ thickeners and fracturing fluid systems in dry fracturing, including thickening mechanisms, thickening performance, and field applications, are discussed.