With the exhaustion of traditional energy, increasing attention has been paid on the new energy resources like H2. Because of its inflammable and explosive properties, it is imperative and challenging to detect ppm-level H2 during the transport and use process. This paper firstly introduces the working principles and sensing mechanism of the hydrogen sensors based on noble metal doped metal-oxide semiconductors. Then, this paper focuses on the advancement of noble metal doped metal oxide hydrogen sensors, especially the room temperature hydrogen sensors, in the recent years. At the end, we propose that fabricating semiconductors with special morphologies, using two different noble metals for bimetallic doping or composite semiconductors with 2D nanomaterials like graphene/MoS2 to improve the room temperature sensing properties towards low H2 concentration should be the emphasis for the future work. •Sensing mechanism of the H2 sensors with different working temperature is introduced.•Development status of metal oxide based H2 sensors are summarized.•Comparison of the H2 gas sensors prepared by various synthesis methods is presented.•Novel gas sensing materials for future room-temperature H2 gas sensor are proposed.