Abstract: Cotton fabric is the first choice for people among all kinds of summer clothing. Because of inferior anti-UV property of cotton，the anti-UV finishing for cotton fabric is necessary. The finishing is important for both achieving healthy life for people and improving additional value of cotton fabric. In this review，anti-UV finishing methods are summarized，including finishing with organic UV absorbers and inorganic nano-UV shielding agents. Improvement of application process and development of highly efficient and stable reagents are equally important for finishing with organic UV absorbers，and the process method should be improved for finishing with inorganic nano-UV shielding agents also.