Dowel laminated timber (DLT) is only composed of dowel and laminated timber of a kind of non-glue and non-nail, nearly full solid wood engineering wood products. DLT can be used as beams, walls, and floors. It has the characteristics of the material economy, green and low carbon, and a high degree of prefabrication. This paper gives a brief overview of DLT from the aspects of construction and classification and systematically summarizes the performance research results of DLT in recent years in terms of the dowel, dowel joints, and components, including the embedment performance of dowel-laminate, shear performance of dowel joints, bending performance of DLT beams, vibration characteristics of DLT plates, etc. On this basis, the shortcomings in the performance research of DLT are summarized, and the fundamental problems to be solved in the study of DLT are put forward.