The research on metamaterials has developed greatly since it was put forward more than twenty years ago, and the absorbing property of metamaterials is one of the research hotspots.Aiming at this, the proposal of metamaterials absorber is briefly introduced, the development of metamaterials absorber is summarized, and several basic types of metamaterials absorber are emphatically introduced, such as the lumped elements loaded metamaterial absorber, multi-unit or multi-layer metamaterial absorber, multi-type materials composite metamaterial absorber.Finally, the application prospect of metamaterial in stealth technologies is discussed, and some challenges and suggestions for the practical application of metamaterial in stealth technologies are also given.