Abstract: China's marine strategy has become one of the most important national strategies for our future development. Our knowledge of the oceans is still limited. Owing to the extreme physiochemical environment, advanced functional materials are highly required in marine exploration, transportation, construction, national defense and equipment, et al. Carbon materials, which have been widely used in many important fields such as aerospace, are good candidates for use in marine science and technology. In this review, such use is systematically highlighted, particularly in some emerging fields including the treatment of oil spills, anti-corrosion, anti-fouling, structural materials for offshore facilities and seawater purification. The roles, mechanisms and effects of carbon materials are comprehensively discussed, and some promising applications are also presented for their use in marine energy storage, desalination, coatings and other fields, both from the academic and industrial requirements.