The machining quality of the inner and outer raceways exerts a significant influence on the service life of rolling bearings. Grinding, as a critical process in raceway finish machining, is prone to thermal damage during material removal, which seriously constrains further improvement in machining quality. Although ultrasonic-assisted and electrolytic-assisted machining can alleviate temperature rise and enhance surface integrity to a certain extent, they fail to fundamentally suppress the generation of cutting heat. Against this background, replacing grinding with hard turning, i.e., adopting turning instead of grinding, provides a promising alternative for raceway machining. This paper systematically reviews the research progress in the grinding of rolling bearing ring raceways. Based on this, the potential advantages of hard turning in raceway finish machining are comparatively analyzed, and the feasibility of replacing grinding with hard turning is explored. In addition, the existing studies on the machining performance, cutting tools, and auxiliary technologies of hard turning are comprehensively reviewed. Finally, the current shortcomings in this field are identified, and future research directions worthy of further attention are proposed.