The fabrication of superhydrophobic surfaces on metal substrates is an effective way to solve the problems of easy corrosion and easy ice-coating of metal materials during the course of use, besides, it can also endow surfaces with special functions such as self-cleaning, oil-water separation, lubrication and drag reduction etc, which definitely has considerable practical application value and far-reaching prospect. However, its practical application has been severely hindered currently by two widespread challenges which are difficult large-scale production and poor mechanical durability. In this review, the basic methods of preparing superhydrophobic surfaces were introduced, and five typical methods were summarized, such as chemical etching, anodizing, electrochemical deposition, hydrothermal process and spraying method and their advantages and disadvantages were discussed. In combination with the latest research progress, two promising research trends were proposed, which were to explore and use more economical and eco-friendly low surface energy substance as hydrophobic modifying agents and to combine the construction of micro- and nanostructed roughness and hydrophobic modification as one-step preparation of superhydrophobic surface. With respect to the mechanical durability of superhydrophobic surface, the causes for the failure of superhydrophobic materials caused by mechanical abrasion were analyzed and the testing methods and evaluation mechanism of the mechanical stability were summarized. Then, based on two key factors like mechanical stability and chemical stability, the following points were proposed: 1) elaborately design micro-nano multi-stage composite structure; 2) introduce bonding layer to reinforce surface microstructure; 3) achieve superhydrophobicity without using low surface energy modifier, but only with coarse structures; 4) construct self-repairing surface to improve the mechanical durability of superhydrophobic surfaces on the metal substrates and prolong the service life. Finally, the urgently demanded research focus and promising development trend of this field are prospected.