Paper-based functional materials, renowned for their green environmental credentials, high performance, and cost-efficiency, have garnered significant attention. Overcoming the challenges posed by fiber hydrophilicity, structural porosity, and functional limitations is a crucial aspect in advancing these materials. A prominent focus is on imparting exceptional properties to these materials, thereby creating value-added paper-based functional materials. This chapter delves into the latest advancements in optimizing paper properties through surface coating techniques. A comparative analysis of prevalent coating methods, including bar coating, spray coating, spin coating, dip coating, laminating, evaporation, and sputtering for the functionalization of cellulose paper is presented. Furthermore, the application of high-performance coated paper-based materials prepared using polymer coatings, nanocellulose coating, metallic coatings, metal oxide coating, composite coatings, recyclable coatings, and other special coatings in diverse fields like green packaging, electronic equipment, detection and analysis, intelligent building, and other fields is emphatically introduced. Finally, the chapter identifies existing challenges in paper-based coating functional materials and offers insights into their promising future development.