Abstract: Metal-air battery is a new type of safe, efficient and pollution-free battery, and its wide application prospects have attracted the attention of researchers around the world. Magnesium-air battery is one of the representatives of metal-air battery, and it is also a new direction of battery development after lithium battery. However, the utilization rate of existing magnesium-air battery is far from expectations, and the voltage is not stable enough, so its utilization rate and stability need to be further improved, and it is crucial for realizing the full potential of magnesium-air batteries. In this paper, the relevant concepts of the magnesium-air battery system are comprehensively introduced from the perspective of the structure of the primary magnesium-air battery, and the latest related research progress of the magnesium-air battery is comprehensively introduced from the perspective of anode development. Besides, based on the results published in recent years, the factors that need to be paid attention to in anode development are discussed, the design methods of anode materials for primary magnesium-air batteries are summarized, and the research direction of magnesium-air batteries in the future is prospected.