In this paper we present a general review of beam dynamics in a laser-driven rf gun. The peculiarity of such an accelerating structure versus other conventional multi-cell linac structures is underlined on the basis of the Panofsky-Wenzel theorem, which is found to give a theoretical background for the well known Kim's model. A basic explanation for some proposed methods to correct rf induced emittance growth is also derived from the theorem. We also present three emittance correction techniques for the recovery of space-charge induced emittance growth, namely the optimum distributed disk-like bunch technique, the use of rf spatial harmonics to correct spherical aberration induced by space charge forces and the technique of emittance filtering by clipping the electron beam. The expected performances regarding the beam quality achievable with different techniques, as predicted by scaling laws and simulations, are analyzed, and, where available, compared to experimental results.