Carbohydrates exist widely in nature, mainly from plants, animals, microorganisms. Carbohydrates are generally divided into four groups:monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Carbohydrate is one of the three essential nutrients of human body, and the basic physiological function is to provide energy for the life activities of human body. However, with the rapid development of global social economy in recent years, people's health awareness has gradually increased, which makes everyone have a new demand for carbohydrate intake, and carbohydrates with various functions have become a hot spot for people to study. Meanwhile, more and more functional carbohydrates are being discovered and used in food. Functional carbohydrates mainly include dietary fiber, resistant starch, resistant dextrin, active polysaccharide, functional oligosaccharides, sugar alcohols and other sugar substitutes. They have a variety of physiological functions closely related to human health, and play an important role in providing energy, constituting body components, regulating protein metabolism, anti-ketogenesis, protecting the liver and regulating intestinal flora. The common physiological functions of carbohydrates and the research progress of common functional carbohydrates were reviewed. The development trend of functional carbohydrates in the future was prospected. This paper aimed to enrich people's scientific understanding of functional carbohydrates and provide theoretical reference for further research on functional carbohydrates and related food development.