The development of miniaturization, lightness, high integration and high power of electronic technology has put forward new requirements for substrate and packaging materials. Aluminum nitride ceramics possess intriguing properties, such as high thermal conductivity, insulation and thermal expansion coefficient being similar to semiconductor silicon, high mechanical strength, good chemical stability and non-toxic, have a good prospect as ideal substrate materials. The preparation of high quality aluminum nitride powder is the key to synthesize high quality aluminum nitride ceramics. In this paper, the traditional methods of micrometer aluminum nitride powder preparation and the new technologies and methods of aluminum nitride nanopowder preparation are introduced, and the research direction and development trend of aluminum nitride powder preparation are prospected.