Using antifouling coatings containing antifoulants was currently the mostwidely used strategy to combat biofouling，but even the self-polishing copolymer-basedcoatings with excellent antifouling ability also existed the problem of toxic hazard and unstablerelease of antifoulants. To balance the environmental protection and the long-term antifoulingperformance，in addition to improving the antifouling ability of antifoulant，the key factor was to control the release of antifoulant. In this paper，the types and mechanism of antifoulingcoatings containing antifoulants were introduced and the research progress of controlledrelease technology of marine antifouling agents was reviewed，including the controlled releasetechnology of inorganic/organic micro-/nanocontainers and polymers with grafted antifoulants.Finally，it was pointed out that such problems as complicated process and reduced antifouling capacity due to loading or grafting modification should be solved in the application ofcontrolled release technology. Moreover，the future development of controlled releasetechnology of marine antifoulants could be made from the following directions，including thedevelopment of efficient antifouling agents that can meet the requirements of loading orgrafting modification，the development of simple controlled release technology，the study ofcontrolled release mechanism of antifoulants and the development of intelligent controlledrelease technology.