<p>As the operating temperature of gas turbine engines continues to rise, the damage caused by four kinds of hot corrosion media (CMAS, sulfates, vanadates, and chlorides) has become a limiting factor for their application and development. Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are a key technology for protecting hot-section components in gas turbine engines. A detailed analysis of the corrosion mechanisms of hot corrosion media on TBCs was provided, encompassing thermochemical reactions, thermomechanical degradation, and electrochemical corrosion. And some strategies for improving hot corrosion resistance were summarized, which mainly focused on the development of new corrosion-resistant coating materials, coating structure design, and coating surface modification. Finally, based on the shortcomings of hot corrosion research, future research directions were suggested from three aspects: comprehensively analyzing the hot corrosion mechanisms of coating, developing new high-entropy rare-earth oxide coating material systems, and conducting biomimetic superhydrophobic coating structure design.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>