As the visual quality requirements of the cataract surgery increase, the application of multifocal intraocular lens has been a hot research subject recently. So far, the multifocal intraocular lens has been divided into refractive multifocal intraocular lens, diffractive multifocal intraocular lens and hybrid multifocal intraocular lens. This article summarizes the progress of clinical application of three types of multifocal intraocular lens and their design principles.