The carbonylative coupling reactions of aryl halides are effective way to synthesize carbonyl compounds. There are more valuable to realize the carbonylative coupling by C-H unactivation. In recent years, transition metal-catalyzed carbonylative coupling reactions have attracted more attention. But more energy will be needed in the cleavage process of C-H and the demands of the structure of substrates and types of catalyst are very harsh. We summarize the advances in transition metal-catalyzed carbonylative coupling by C-H bond activation from the point of the types of catalyst.