This article reviews the acquisition, transmission and retention of geminiviruses by the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. Minimum time required for acquisition and inoculation of geminiviruses by the whitefly is 15-30 min. Geminiviruses may be retained in their vector for one to several weeks, and sometimes for the entire life of the vector. Transmission efficiency increases with increase of acquisition time and inoculation time, or increase of the number of whiteflies used for inoculation and virus concentration. Moreover, the efficiency of transmission varies with age and gender of the insect vector. In addition to the direct transmission between plant and whitefly, geminiviruses can also be transmitted through mating and oviposition (transovarial transmission) among whiteflies. What geminiviruses that can be acquired by whitefly and the possibility for virus transmission are affected by the host plants, the special protein of geminiviruses as well as the GroEL proteins synthesized by endosymbionts of the vector. Geminiviruses may have favourable or unfavourable effects on the development, survival and reproduction of the whitefly. Whiteflies carrying tomato yellow leaf curl virus(TYLCV) show lower levels of survival and fecundity, while those carrying tomato mottle virus (ToMoV) show higher fecundity, compared with their counterparts. In addition, host plants infected by geminiviruses may increase their suitability to whiteflies.