Spatio-temporal characteristics of ultrashort pulse has shown a vital impact on the material modification, and have gradually become a research hotspot in the field of femtosecond laser micromachining in the last decades. According to the basic concepts of the spatiotemporal coupling of femtosecond pulses, the effects of spatio-temporal coupling as well as spatio-temporal focusing techniques are reviewed briefly. Then it introduces a few applications of spatio-temporal focusing technology on material processing, and especially discusses the influence of spatio-temporal coupling on the non-reciprocal direct writing and the asymmetric nanograting structure in transparent materials.