The key problems that plague the service life and stability of machinery and equipment are pitting and intergranular corrosion caused by aluminum alloy components for marine engineering in the service environment. At present, cathodic protection, corrosion inhibitor, anodic oxidation and protective coating are common protection measures against aluminum alloy corrosion in the marine environment. This paper introduces the common types and application sites of aluminum alloys used in marine engineering equipment. It was found that 5 series and 6 series aluminum alloys are the preferred materials for shipbuilding and offshore platform construction. Among them, 5 series aluminum alloys with excellent mechanics and corrosion resistance are generally used to make the main load bearing components such as decks and storage devices. Secondly, the corrosion behavior and corrosion mechanism of aluminum alloy in marine atmosphere environment, splash zone and marine full immersion area were reviewed. It was found that aluminum alloy, different from the steel, suffers the most serious corrosion in the full immersion area, while the corrosion damage is relatively light in the splash area. Pitting corrosion and intergranular corrosion are 2 typical types of aluminum alloy corrosion, while stress corrosion and microbial corrosion also restrict the application of aluminum alloy in the field of marine engineering. Finally, several corrosion protection measures for aluminum alloy in marine environment are analyzed, and it is pointed out that the protection method used in engineering practice is the joint use of two and more measures, and the future development trend of aluminum alloys in failure behavior analysis, performance optimization direction and coating material selection is proposed, in order to provide a reference for the research and development of aluminum alloy and its protection materials serving in an extreme marine environment.