Fluorescent materials can emit fluorescence under ultraviolet or visible light, which have been widely used in our daily life. However, fluorescent materials are usually small molecules, thus some problems such as easy loss, low efficiency and single function exist. In recent years, fluorescent substances have been combined with resins and other substrates to prepare fluorescent coatings to solve these problems. This article reviews the research progress of the design, preparation and application of fluorescent coatings, focusing on the combination of fluorescent substances and coatings, the design and construction of fluorescent coatings based on different types of fluorescent groups. The binding methods are divided into physical blending and chemical bonding and fluorescent materials can be divided into four categories, including fluorescent proteins, organic fluorescent groups, lanthanide complexes and luminescent nanoparticles. Different binding methods and different types of fluorescent materials have their own advantages and disadvantages, choosing the right combination and fluorescent material is very important for the function of fluorescent material. Fluorescent coatings can emit fluorescence under certain conditions, which can produce corresponding changes in the emitted fluorescence under external stimuli such as ions, force and pH changes. Due to the change of fluorescence under different conditions, it can be used for corrosion self-reporting, ion detection, anti-counterfeiting encryption, etc. Therefore, we describe carefully the application of fluorescent coating in biomedicine, metal anticorrosion warning, anti-counterfeiting encryption, and propose the future development of fluorescent coating.