Abstract: Chitosan-based composite coating could control the weight loss, reduce the decay, maintaining the storage quality and prolonging the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. In this review, the biological characteristics of chitosan, such as the safety, the film forming property and the antimicrobial activity were introduced. Moreover, we investigated the effective of keeping fresh on fruits and vegetables and the preparation of the composite coating including chitosan with essential oil coating, chitosan with organic acid coating, chitosan with nanomaterials and others. This paper discussed the antimicrobial activity, the keeping fresh mechanism and the development trend for these composite coating. This review could provide the consultation for its further research and application.