Abstract: Lignin is a kind of abundant, cheap and sustainable natural biomass resource. Recently, converting lignin to functional nanomaterials has greatly broadened its application. Meanwhile, this conversion greatly solved the typical problems for traditional materials. Here, in this paper, several preparation methods including preparation of lignin functional nanoparticles such as self-assembly, mechanical method, polymerization assembly, freeze-drying carbonization, etc were introduced. And then their different applications in catalysts, additives, adsorbents, UV protection and anti-oxidation, sterilization, carrier materials, aggregation-inducing emmision materials, etc were described. Also, an outlook about the prospect of its application was presented. Developing controllable preparation and functional modification will facilitate the further application of lignin-based nanoparticles in the fields of environmental protection, energy, catalysis and biomedicine.