The group 5B metals used for hydrogen separation and purification have high hydrogen selectivity and permeability, but these metals lack the ability of dissociating hydrogen into hydrogen atoms. Therefore, metal Pd that can catalyze hydrogen dissociation needs to be plated on the surface of these membranes to achieve the purpose of Pd-assisted dissociation of hydrogen into hydrogen atoms. However, Pd and 5B base alloy membranes are prone to intermetallic interdiffusion at high temperature, which deteriorates the hydrogen dissociation efficiency on the membrane surface and affects the continuity and stability during hydrogen separation. Adding an intermediate layer between hydrogen separation alloy membrane and Pd layer or directly using a non-Pd catalytic material on the surface of the alloy membrane is the main method to prevent the failure of the hydrogen separation alloy membrane due to intermetallic interdiffusion. Catalytic hydrogen dissociation mechanism of Pd and other metals were briefly introduced together with hydrogen transport mechanism of hydrogen separation alloy membrane. The research progress on surface treatment of hydrogen separation alloy membranes reported in recent years was reviewed from the following three aspects:1) intermediate layer materials and its function as a barrier against thermal diffusion between metals; 2) non-Pd catalytic materials and their catalytic effects on hydrogen dissociation; and 3) the effects of internal and external factors on the effectiveness of materials. The types of intermediate layer materials to prevent high-temperature intermetallic diffusion were mainly intermetallic compounds, and also included some oxides (the oxides were obtained from group 5B metal substrates) and rare earth metal Y. The effect of these intermediate layer materials to prevent thermal diffusion between metals was evaluated and analyzed in terms of hydrogen permeation stability time and hydrogen permeability at high temperature. The non-Pd catalyzed hydrogen dissociation materials were mainly divided into metal carbides and vanadium oxides. The hydrogen dissociation efficiency and compatibility of these materials were emphatically analyzed. The dissociation efficiency of non-Pd catalytic materials for hydrogen was related to the crystal structure and experimental temperature. Non-palladium-catalyzed materials did not appear metal thermal diffusion, so they could work at temperature higher than 400 ℃. High temperature also helped increase hydrogen permeability. In terms of compatibility, vanadium oxides showed better adaptability because they could be stably combined with different alloy membranes and obtained higher hydrogen permeability. The factors that affected the effect of the interlayer and the non-Pd catalytic materials to prevent metal thermal diffusion or catalyze hydrogen dissociation mainly included the internal factors like material and the external factors like process. The effects of the internal factors of these materials, such as coating structure and thickness were analyzed. The effects of external factors such as the preparation process and the selection of preparation parameters on the anti diffusion or catalytic hydrogen dissociation effect were illustrated with examples. Finally, the shortcomings and corresponding improvement measures of adding interlayer materials or using non-Pd catalytic materials in the existing research were pointed out, and the future surface treatment development was prospected for hydrogen separation 5B group alloy membranes.