Essential nutrient elements for plants, including nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and zinc (Zn), are involved in regulation of many physiological and biochemical processes in plants, which are critical factors directly determining yield and quality of crops. However, excessive subcellular accumulation of these essential nutrient elements will be toxic for plant cells or the whole plant. Thus, uptake and transport processes of these nutrients must be tightly regulated at the cellular level. Focused on Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa, this review briefly summarized the types, physical and chemical properties of nutrient element transporters, and elaborated their biological functions and action mechanisms in higher plants, including N transporter families (NPF, NRT2, CLC, SLAC/SLAH, and AMT), P transporter families (PHT1, PHT2, PHT3, PHT4, and PHT5), K transporter families (KT/HAK/KUP, HKT, CHX, and KEA), and Zn transporter families (ZIP, CDF, and P1B-type ATPase). Endocytosis from the plasma membrane (PM) is an important route for uptake of extracellular materials and regulation of PM-resident receptors or transporters, so we introduced potential roles of transporter endocytosis in uptake and transport of nutrient elements in plant cells. In the end, we made prospects of future studies on functional roles and regulation mechanisms of transporters, providing new ideas and strategies for efficient utilization of nutrients and genetic improvement of quality in crops.