Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is the prominent precursors to environmental problems such as PM2.5 and photochemical smog,are one of the targets for improving air quality in China during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Currently,the emission reduction of VOCs is a hot issue in air pollution control. As the main primary energy source in China,coal consumption is still dominant in the power industry. Coal is a major contributor to VOCs emissions. However,there are few studies and engineering practices for VOCs management in the flue gas of coal-fired power plants. Based on the introduction of the typical emission characteristics of VOCs in flue gas from coal-fired power plants,the current research status of existing terminal recovery and destruction technologies for VOCs was summarized and the characteristics,applicable conditions，and latest research progress of the technologies including adsorption,absorption,biodegradation,photocatalysis,low-temperature plasma,catalytic oxidation and ozone oxidation methods were introduced. Under the background of China′s carbon emission reduction era and collaborative emission reduction of air pollutants,the research direction of VOCs purification technology for flue gas from coal-fired power plants was prospected. Adsorption and catalytic oxidation technologies are suitable for the treatment of VOCs in the flue gas of coal-fired power plants with high air volumes and low concentrations. Adsorption possesses a relatively low selectivity and can adsorb various VOCs. The research of adsorption technology mainly focuses on exploring the adsorption mechanism,designing efficient adsorbents,and dissecting the adsorption behavior of VOCs in complex flue gas environment. The catalytic activity of the catalyst is affected by many factors,such as support,metal loading,preparation method and so on. Developing efficient and stable catalysts is the key to catalytic oxidation technology. The research on the synergistic catalytic oxidation of VOCs and NOx has achieved remarkable results under medium and high temperature. It is still necessary to further probe into the synergistic catalytic mechanism,reaction by-products and competitive adsorption. Normal temperature catalytic oxidation technology can realize the high-efficiency degradation of VOCs with complex structure and various types at room temperature,solve the problems of high energy consumption,poor safety and deactivation at high temperature of traditional catalytic oxidation technology,reduce flue gas treatment cost and promote zero carbon emission. It has a good application prospect for purifying VOCs in flue gas of coal-fired power plants. The combination of normal-temperature catalytic oxidation technology for VOCs with existing flue gas treatment equipment and developing synergistic catalytic processes of multiple pollutants will be the development trend for controlling VOCs in flue gas from coal-fired power plants.