The rapid development of industry has caused serious environmental and energy problems that threaten the ecological balance. Therefore, it is of great significance to adopt energy-saving technologies to deal with environmental pollution. As a green energy technology, Microbial fuel cell (MFC) generates electricity by degrading organic matter in wastewater through the oxidative metabolism of microorganisms. However, the current relatively low power generation efficiency limits the industrial application of MFC. The performance of MFC is affected by many factors, such as the configuration limitation of the device, the influence of the electrode material on the extracellular electron transfer yield and the oxygen catalytic reduction reaction, the composition of the substrate, and the cost of the proton exchange membrane. Optimizing the design of MFC, improving the power generation performance of MFC, and reducing the input cost can solve the shortcomings of MFC industrial application. By analyzing the battery configuration, electrode materials, anode microorganisms and proton exchange membrane, the main factors affecting the power generation performance and their solutions are summarized, and the future development direction of MFC is prospected to provide a theoretical basis for promoting the application of MFC technology.