Undesired biofouling problem brought serious threat to the safety of hydraulic structures. Mechanical scraping, anti-fouling coatings, chemical elimination and releasing economic fish are traditional strategies of biofouling control at present and antifouling coating was supposed to be of good application potential. This review introduced the mechanisms and latest research results of multiple anti-fouling coatings, silicone coatings and fluoro-coatings in particular. Besides, the direction of future research was also prospected: improving the mucus release and fouling release efficiency in static and low-speed flow conditions; and developing specific coatings according to the specific problem of hydraulic project and the species of biofouling.