Phenolic resin is a high-quality resin material integrating heat resistance, flame retardancy, corrosion resistance and other properties. It is widely used in national defense, aerospace, construction and other fields. However, the unstable structures such as hydroxymethyl in its structure are easy to be oxidized and produce small molecules during curing, which limit its application in special fields. Therefore, the structural modification of phenolic resin has always been an important research direction, especially the modification of phenolic resin by unsaturated fatty hydrocarbons. The research status of unsaturated fatty hydrocarbon (alkenyl and alkynyl) modified phenolic resin at home and abroad was reviewed, and the synthesis mechanism, structure and properties of alkenyl and alkynyl modified phenolic resin were mainly introduces.