The maximum height of trees has attracted attention of botanists for a long time. Height shows trade-offs between light competition ability to suppress surrounding neighbors and water transport constraints to haul water from roots to canopy leaves for photosynthesis, and related to biomass accumulation as well. Current studies on tree height focus on both hydraulic limitation and biomass allocation to support vertical growth. Combing with wood structural traits and leaf physiological traits can help to understand the strategies of plants to be cost-effective as response to environmental change. Here with complied data from online database, published floras and literature review, we aim to summarize the key factors of tree height limitation and evaluate the relative contributions from different aspects.