As an effective means of performance enhancement for aviation components, high-energy beam surface modification is applicable for all kinds of metals and alloys, which can significantly increase the surface hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance and et al. This paper summarizes the basic principles, equipment structures and modification applications of six different high-energy beam surface modification techniques. Laser transformation hardening can strengthen the steel surface via martensitic phase change; laser cladding achieves surface repair and surface performance improvement by choosing diverse powders, which focuses on how to control the crack defects; laser shock peening can efficiently solve the problem of high-cycle fatigue fracture of aircraft engine components; high current pulsed electron beam and high current pulsed ion beam should improve equipment performance and operation stability on one hand, and positively carry out modification attempts for aviation component on the other hand; and ion beam assisted deposition can effectively repair fretting wear by preparing solid lubrication coatings. Finally, the development of further research on surface modification mechanism of high-energy beam, development of specialized intelligent equipment, realization of multi-beam source composite and integration are proposed