The current demand for the oil and gas has led to an increase in more technological advancements. Also, this trend has made offshore explorations to move from shallow waters to deep waters. This requires longer risers, resulting in significant weight increase. To improve riser technology, composite materials can be used. They offer advantages that can be harnessed. These include high corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance, high strength characteristics and weight savings since they are lightweight with low bending stiffness. This paper presents a brief overview on the progress made in the research activities on composite risers. This is in response to the marked increase in both the use of offshore composites and the increased research on composite risers. The material development and lay-up configurations used in the modelling approach were presented. Composite materials properties used like AS4/PEEK were also presented with their advantages for applications in deep waters of over 1000m depth. The first time composite risers were successfully deployed offshore was on Heidrun Platform in 1995 as a composite joint. This started the success in the historical trend of composite riser development. This paper also presents the different load conditions for composite risers. It also presents compares study between composite risers and steel risers using indices like strength, fatigue and cost. Lastly, the current recommended practices and standards currently being used in designing composite risers were x-rayed.