Such as, by using the photothermal effect of materials, the surface tension of the lubrication layer on the surface of materials can be changed, thus creating a wetting gradient force to push the droplets to move. Further, the sliding and pinning of the droplet can be controlled by the phase change of the paraffin layer on some functional surfaces. The pyroelectric crystal can generate the dielectric force field on its surface based on the photothermal effect, which could be applied to realize the lossless moving, merging, and splitting of the droplets. In addition, the wettability of the photovoltaic crystals could be changed with the irradiation of light, therefore, can be used to control the behavior of droplets. In this paper, the development of the photo-responsive functional surface in droplet manipulation was briefly reviewed. The mechanisms of the droplet manipulation with the functional surface were expatiated. The categories of functional surfaces were summarized, the characteristics of the structure were analyzed, and the corresponding implementation method was introduced in detail. In addition, the applications of the photo-responsive functional surface in droplet transportation, fusion, and segmentation were introduced. Finally, the future development and potential applications of the photo-responsive functional surface for droplet manipulation were prospected.