Functional surface with specific wettability is one of the indispensable means for droplet manipulation. In recent years, the photo-responsive functional surface with changeable wettability has developed fast. By inducing wetting gradient force, mechanical deformation, phase transformation, dielectric electrophoresis force and electro wettability alteration on the material surface, the behavior of the droplets can be controllably manipulated by the photo-responsive functional surface. In this paper, the development of the photo-responsive functional surface for the droplet manipulation was briefly reviewed. The principles and mechanisms of the droplet manipulation with the functional surface had been expatiated. The categories, structural characteristics and corresponding preparation techniques of the functional surface were analyzed and summarized. In addition, the applications of the photo-responsive functional surface in droplet transportation, fusion, fission, liquid robot, and fluidic chips were introduced in detail. The development tendency and potential applications of the photo-responsive droplet manipulation functional surface were prospected in combination with the characteristics of the functional surface.