The Devonian reef complexes in the Canning basin of western Australia and the Mississippian reef in eastern Australia were compared with those coeval reef complexes in Guilin and Mississippian reefs in Guangxi, South China, and in Akiyoshi, Japan based on the detailed studies on the Devonian reef complexes in Canning basin, western Australia and Mississippian reefs in eastern Australia and through analyzing the development pattern and evolution characteristics of Devonian and Mississippian reefs in four different paleotethys areas. The results are significant in understanding the difference between Late Devonian to Mississippian and early to middle Devonian reef-building organisms and reef types globally and in studying the global palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes in this time interval.