Abstract: Polydopamine (PDA) is discovered as a biopolymer that obtained by oxide polymerization of dopamine (DA) in alkaline environment. PDA has unique characteristics such as exceptional adhesiveness, metal chelation, and excellent biocompatibility. In recent years, PDA has been extensively utilized in various area such as biomedicine, materials science and food technology, etc. In present work, different methods of PDA preparation are summarized such as enzymatic oxidation, electro-polymerization and chemical oxidation, and the mechanism of PDA polymerization is discussed using covalent polymerization and supermolecule aggregates. Accordingly, the different self-polymerized PDA nanostructures are classified as nano-coating, nanoparticles, nano-capsules, mesoporous and porous PDA to analysis their advances in functional food packaging, immobilized enzyme, food detection and active substance delivery. In addition, the existing problems and research directions are prospected in order to provide reference for further research of PDA.