An automotive or aircraft component requires the inclusion of some light-weight high-performance materials, e.g. carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), a.luminium alloy, titanium alloy. Adhesive bonding, as a satisfactory technique for joining two materials, has attracted more and more attentions from researchers and manufacturers. Unlike welding, bolling, or riveting techniques. adhesive bonding docs not destroy the bulk struct11re and prevents galvanic corrosion in tenns of hybrid joining. Prior lo adhesive bonding, surface pre-treatments are necessary. For example, the surface of CFRPs is usually not active. Also. contaminants may affect the joint performance after adhesive bonding. Surface pre-treatments for CFRPs aim to remove any surface contaminants and also to modify the surface. They optimise surface topography and/or chemical composition to obtain a closer interaction with adhesives, i.e. mechanical interlocking and chemical bonding. In this report, surface pre-treatment methods for composites prior to adhesive bonding will be introduced, including solvent cleaning, chemical treatment, abrasion, peel-ply method. plasma treatment. and laser ablation. Relevant studies will be reviewed and summarized. The effectiveness. compatibility, economy, and enviromnental concerns of these methods will be analysed and compared. This report will also provide suggestions for further research and development of the methods, based on both findings of the research papers and the applications in the industrial production.