Fruit flies are important pest of fruits and vegetables. In this paper, the host plants, origin, first records, invaded habitats, distribution in its native and invaded areas, and invasion pathways of alien fruit flies are comprehensively summarized, to provide assistance for alerting and preventing their invasion to China. Presence in nearby territories is an important condition for invading China. The places of origin of already-invaded fruit flies are Japan, India and Thailand, and the earliest records are usually China's coastal and border provinces, including Guangxi, Yunnan and Xinjiang. There was a positive correlation between the number of host plants and distribution range of invading fruit flies. Bactrocera correcta and B. vultus are polyphagous having 305 and 61 host plants, and occur in 83 and 58 countries, respectively. B. cucurbitae, B. cucurbitae, and B. tsuneonis are oligophagous species which are present in countries around in their places of origin. With the abundant international trade in melons and other fruits, the important quarantine fruit flies gradually spread, first to countries around their original places. B. oleae, B. zonata, Dacus bivittatus, Rhagoletis fausta and R. pomonella have already invaded countries neighboring China and we need to be aware of their possible arrival to the border provinces. Strengthening quarantine and management measures are important to prevent the invasion and spread of fruit flies. At the same time, it is also necessary to further improve the risk assessment, prevention and control strategies, molecular identification and rapid methods of the major quarantine fruit flies.