Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) have excellent properties such as light weight, high strength, high modulus and high temperature resistance, and have wide application prospect in the fields of national defense, aerospace and high-end civilian products. Various methods have been exploited to modify the CF to increase the surface activity, roughness and wettability, so that the interfacial adhesion between fiber and matrix could be improved for better mechanical properties, which is helpful to meet the needs of more fields for high-performance CFRP. In this review, the recent progress of CF surface modification methods and their reinforcing effects on composites are mainly summarized. Finally, some issues of CFRP are discussed and the future trends of interfacial reinforcement research are prospected. Display omitted