Target segmentation is a basic and critical technology in the fields of image processing, computer vision and artificial intelligence.It aims at providing evidence for the subsequent identification, classification,tracking and retrieval.Because infrared images have the features of low contrast,high noise, blurring,etc,the genetic algorithm is used in the threshold segmentation of them.In this paper,the threshold segmentation algorithms for infrared images are overviewed.The research on the application of genetic algorithms in segmentation of infrared images,the research status and new technologies are presented.The algorithm is used in the processing of infrared images and a good result is obtained.