Functionalized liposomes can improve the in vivo process of drugs to achieve high-efficiency delivery by enhancing drug absorption， changing drug distribution and reducing the elimination， which is one of the hotspots in nanomedicine research with broad application prospects. However， the drug information published by official websites of National Medical Products Administration （NMPA）， the United States Food and Drug Administration （FDA）， and the European Medicines Agency （EMA） shows that there are few liposomal products on the market， and the domestic varieties are mainly generic drugs. Excepting for polyethylene glycolized （PEGylated） liposomes， no other functionalized liposomes have been approved for marketing， which indicates that the clinical translation of functionalized liposomes remains at a low level. Therefore， the relevant reports of functionalized liposomes in recent years were reviewed in this paper， their application advantages and main challenges in preparation research and development were discussed based on the in vivo process， and their low clinical translation mainly because of the insufficient clinical thinking， safety and efficacy of functional materials， inaccurate in vitro and in vivo analysis methods and difficulty in scaling up production. Meanwhile， the possible strategies such as introducing the concept of clinical multi-function to improve clinical acuity， focusing on examining the modification density of functional materials and the interaction between the modified materials， evaluating the drug delivery performance of functionalized liposomes from multiple perspectives and scenarios， and conducting cost and convenience-oriented formulation composition and preparation process optimization were proposed in order to provide a reference for the development of functionalized liposomes and other carrier-based nanomedicines.