The targeting contrast agents used in magnetic resonance imaging were reviewed in this paper. The contents included paramagnetic metal ion chelates, superparamagnetic iron oxides, macromolecular contrast media containing polylysine, peptides, polysaccharides, and receptor and antibody labeled with superparamagnetic particle. Currently most pieces of work in this field are performed in the small molecular of iron, manganese or lanthanide chelates. The receptor, antibody, peptide and cell specificity are expected to be more important for functional magnetic resonance imaging in the next decade. Several target-specific MR agents have already been tested in animals. The individual components of these MR contrast agents and their promising applications are described.