Gas turbines and aero engines are known as the jewels of the industrial crown and their development is an important symbol of a country's technological level and national strength. Turbine inlet temperatures are rapidly increasing to improve the turbine efficiency, so the turbine blades are being exposed to higher temperatures. Efficient blade cooling methods are then needed for the blades to work safely at temperatures much higher than the material melting point. This paper reviews the development of high-efficiency cooling methods for gas turbines and presents a three-dimensional research framework for gas turbine cooling methods. This paper also reviews the research results of the present authors on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of cooling units, blade cascades and multiple cooling component interactions. This paper then presents a design method for efficient experimental data-driven cooling structure design. The characteristics and development trends of next generation cooling methods using double wall cooling are also described.