With the continuous development of modern industry and the difficult-to-machine materials gradually increases, the machining requirements of cutting tools continue to improve and the cutting environment is increasingly harsh. As the coating applies, the efficiency and precision of machining have been effectively improved. Coating on the tool surface can not only extend the service life of the cutting tool, greatly reduce the processing cost, but also reduce the environmental pollution in the process of processing. Excellent coating preparation technology is an important factor for its effective performance. According to different processing requirements, processing costs and processing environment, researchers have been working hard on the road of coating preparation technology. In this work, it summarizes the principle of physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition and the corresponding advantages and disadvantages, and briefly introduces the pulsed DC magnetron sputtering, high power pulsed magnetron sputtering, arc ion plating and a variety of composite magnetron sputtering technologies.