What people referred to as computerization of society in the 1970s, has now become a social, economic and cultural reality. Social relations, professional world and leisure are invaded by digital technics. The notion of virtual is both present in practices and usages of techniques and in recent discourses. However, this notion has a plurality of meanings. In order to better grasp it, this article traces the genealogy of the virtual to understand its constitution and to make sense of its construction and reconstruction through different theories.