The heterogeneous structure between carbon fiber reinforced polymer and metal is one of effective ways to realize the structural light weighting of aerospace equipment. Friction stir welding is a low heat input solid-phase welding technology, can achieve high-quality joining between carbon fiber reinforced polymer and metal dissimilar materials. This paper summarizes the domestic and foreign research results in the direction of friction stir welding between carbon fiber reinforced polymer and metal in recent years. A systematic review was conducted from three aspects: process exploration, interface joining mechanism and joint performance control based on friction stir welding, and it also looks forward to the future main research directions in terms of the joint use of multiple joining techniques between carbon fiber reinforced polymer and metal heterostructures, improving the fatigue performance of the joint and exploring the corrosion mechanism of the joint.