Magnetic liquids are a kind of nano-scale functional material with fluidity and superparamagneticity, which is mainly composed of nano-magnetic particles, base liquids and surfactants. Its characteristics mainly include magnetization, levitation, magnetoviscous effect. Compared with the traditional vibration damper, the vibration damper used in spacecraft based on these features has the peculiarity of small volume, low quality, sensitive to inertial force, and does not rely on spacecraft to provide additional energy. There are successful application cases in foreign aerospace and other fields, while the domestic is limited to some theory and experiment, the practical application is less, the lack of in-depth study. More than half of spacecraft failures are caused by vibration, so it is necessary to reduce the vibration of spacecraft. This paper briefly introduces the composition, preparation and characteristics of magnetic liquids, and reviews the typical applications of magnetic liquids in vibration reduction from the 20th century to the present, including the research on vibration reduction of spacecraft, loudspeakers and workbenches.