Fertilizers play a crucial role in agricultural production. However, the extensive use of traditional fertilizers has caused serious negative impacts on the environment. In order to achieve sustainable development, coated controlled-release fertilizers have gained significant attention as alternatives to traditional fertilizers. This fertilizer typically exhibits a core-shell structure and controls the release rate of the inner layer fertilizer by manipulating the outer shell layer. It can reduce environmental pollution, regulate nutrient release rate, enhance fertilizer utilization efficiency, and increase crop yield. The key to the preparation of coated controlled-release fertilizers lies in the development of high-performance, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly functional coating materials. This review paper provides an overview of the current research status of domestic and foreign coated controlled-release fertilizers, the types of coating materials, coating processes, and controlled-release mechanisms. The paper also analyzes the problems in their application and prospects the potential applications of these fertilizers in agriculture.