There are huge demands for antibacterial metallic materials in protecting human health from bacteria propagation and bacteria spreading, and in preventing industrial equipments from microbial corrosion. In this paper, some common inorganic antibacterial agents such as Ag + , Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ and Ce 2+ were introduced; the manufacturing approaches of the antibacterial metallic materials were analyzed from three types, including the overall alloying, the surface modification and the composite materials. Based on this, the development tendency of the antibacterial metallic materials were discussed, it is advised that the evaluation of one manufacturing approach should be determined from the actual requirements, and the antibacterial theory and evaluation criteria for antimicrobial performance should be further studied.