Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) holds significant value in neuroscience and clinical disease diagnosis. The most commonly used single-shot echo-planar imaging (EPI) for DWI is affected by static magnetic field (
B0) inhomogeneity and \rm T_2/T_2^* decay, leading to geometric distortion, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), etc. To solve these problems, researchers have developed more advanced high-resolution diffusion MRI techniques. This article comprehensively reviews these imaging methods. In the context of echo-planar imaging (EPI), this review covers multi-shot EPI-based DWI techniques, including readout-segmented EPI (RS-EPI), interleaved EPI (iEPI), point spread function-encoded EPI (PSF-EPI), and echo-planar time-resolved imaging (EPTI). These methods effectively reduce or eliminate geometric distortions while improving SNR and spatial resolution. Additionally, the combination of multi-shot EPI with simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) acquisition can shorten scan time, which is also briefly discussed in this article. Compared with EPI, spiral imaging offers higher SNR and sampling efficiency but is more sensitive to
B0 inhomogeneity. In the spiral imaging section, we review single-shot spiral DWI and multi-shot spiral DWI, as well as their integration with SMS techniques. This article emphasizes the concepts, acquisition strategies, and reconstruction methods of these imaging techniques. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future directions of high-resolution diffusion imaging, including 3D DWI, body DWI, magnetic field probes, ultra-high gradient systems, and ultra-high-field MRI systems.