Abstract: This paper is a brief and selective review on hydrothermal synthesis of advanced materials. Some general comments about the hydrothermal synthesis of materials are presented. In particular, the surface modification and hydrothermal synthesis of functional powders (e.g. the hydrothermal coating of aluminum borate whiskers with chromium oxide, hydrothermal synthesis of Ni-Zn ferrite and magnesium hydroxide ) are introduced and their importance are explained.