The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a species-specific, environment-friendly, and highly effective tool for insect pest control. Currently, release of insects carrying a dominant lethal gene (RIDL) is one of the most studied techniques that were developed to enhance traditional SIT. A standard RIDL system includes a tet-off system, gene specific promoters, components involved in sex determination and the effective lethal genes. Specifically, selecting the proper lethal genes is a very important step that determines both efficiency and stability of RIDL strain. The lethal genes can be repressible, or specifically expressed in females, or directly cut the X chromosome, all of which way lead to repressible/embryo-specific/female-specific lethality of offspring. Here the studies and applications of cell death genes such as RHG family (reapr, hid, grim, michelob_x), tetracycline transcriptional activator (tTA), Nipp1Dm and homing endonuclease genes (HEG) are reviewed. The function mechanism and application feature of certain lethal genes are discussed. More research on the structural character and regulation pathway of important lethal genes are needed to further understand cell apoptosis, as well as the development of new tools for genetic pest management.