Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a new type of accurate surface thin film preparation technique, which has several characteristics such as depositing large-area uniform films, making the film thickness control at nanometer level feasible, and lower deposition temperature. This new technique is suitable for the complicated nano-porous and high aspect ratio substrate materials, and can be applied in the preparation of functional film materials for 3D micro-nano devices. Now great attention of widespread academic and industry has been paid to ALD technology. The development history and related working principles of ALD technology were reviewed in this paper. Especially, the application progress of ALD technique in the micro-nano devices, including semiconductor integrated circuit, micro and nano optics and biomedical field, was introduced in the paper. Meanwhile, the existing problems of ALD technique and its future development tendency were discussed.