Surface plasmon polariton (SPP) is a kind of electromagnetic mode confined at the interface of metal and dielectric, and it is expected to be a good carrier for photonic arrangement and integration in micro/nano scale owing to its strong field enhancement and confinement properties. Along with the deep understanding of SPP properties and the increasing requirement for developing micro/nano optical devices, how to precisely control the propagation of SPP waves and realize the specific distribution of near-field intensity has become the focus. We review the new principles and methods of manipulating the SPP beams by micro/nano structures, and the enhanced ability to control the beam property and the near-field distribution. The basic characteristics, the generation and the control of the special plasmon beams, including Airy beams, diffraction-free collimating beams and angular Bessel beams, are mainly addressed, which has been extended to near-field holography recently. The possible applications of novel micro/nano photonics devices based on SPP manipulation are discussed as well.