Among a variety of anti-corrosion methods, the sol-gel method is a kind of environmental friendly preparation technology with simple operation and low cost, which is widely applied to the corrosion protection of surface of many metal materials. This paper introduced the basic principle of the sol-gel method, and its characteristics of easily modification, easy temperature control and non-pollution. This paper expounded emphatically the related processing parameters affecting coating corrosion resistance, including hydrolysis temperature, pH value, aging time, reactant concentration, heat treatment temperature, etc. The technology research progress of sol-gel anti-corrosion coatings on metals was reviewed in details, and sol-gel anti-corrosion coating had experienced the history of a single inorganic oxide coating process to the multivariate composite coating, which made the application scope more extensive. In the end, this review summarized the three anti-corrosion mechanisms of sol-gel coating, including shielding effect, corrosion passivation, sacrificial anode protection, which expounded the mechanism of corrosion resistance of the coating and provided the theoretical foundation for the research of new anti-corrosion technology. Finally the difficulties encountered in the course of anticorrosion coating in current researches were summarized, and the possible solutions were discussed to provide direction for future researches.