Superheating of solids, an unconventional phenomenon in nature, can be achieved by suppressing the heterogeneous nucleation of melt at defect sites, such as free surfaces and internal grain boundaries. In recent years, experimental evidences have clearly proved that the YBCO (Y123) thin film with a free surface possesses a superheating capacity, which is mainly attributed to the film/substrate structures, distinctively consisting with low-energy surface and semi-coherent interface. Like most functional oxides, YBCO (denoted as alpha phase) is characterized by a peritectic melting: alpha -> beta + liq. Its superheating behavior certainly relates to this peritectic reaction. Furthermore, REBCO (RE123, RE: rare earth elements) thin films with high thermal stability have been successfully employed as seed materials in inducing the growth of REBCO materials, such as thick film, single crystal and single domain bulk. Therefore, this superheating property of thin films is of great importance in both scientific study and practical application. In this paper, the up-to-date researches covering on the superheating phenomenon of the alpha phase film, its mechanism and applications in growth of REBCO superconductors are reviewed, which is supposed to be valid for more thin films of functional oxides that have the same nature as the YBCO film/substrate. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.