For polymer materials which don’t have the property of electromagnetic interference shielding, filing functional filler is the main technique to endow them with shield electromagnetic interference property. However, simply filling cannot achieve the above purposes, and the surface modification of functional filler plays an important role in electromagnetic interference shielding property for polymer-based composites. In this paper, the main surface modification methods of functional fillers, including electroless plating, surface carbonization, polymer coating, surface grafting and surface growth MOFs, etc., were summarized and the influence of various surface treatments on the electromagnetic interference shielding properties for polymer-based composites were discussed. Finally, some suggestions for the future research and development of related researches were also put forward.