Abstract: The properties and research progress of metals, rubber and composite materials used for the liner board of ball mills were introduced. Wear-resistant cast iron is featured with good corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance, martensitic steel with good comprehensive mechanical properties under moderate impact wear, and bainitic steel with good hardenability; martensitic/bainitic steel can improve ductility and impact tenacity of materials while maintaining high strength, and high manganese steel shows high impact performance and abrasive resistance. Rubber lining is light in weight, easy for installation, and low in noise and power consumption, but it is not suitable for dry type ball mills, while composite materials show the satisfactory designability and good comprehensive performance. Finally, the failure modes of lining were summarized, notably, abrasive wear is not only related to the hardness of materials, but also to the ratio of the hardness of the abrasive to the hardness of materials.