Abstract: With the accelerated social development and continuous sophistication of science and technology, rare earth metals have shown their unique advantages in improving product quality and performance. However, there are also problems, including long cycle of traditional preparation methods for rare earth materials and inadequate research into high-end application fields. On the basis of introducing the latest progress in the preparation of rare earth materials, for instance, technologies of exchange ion, thermal decomposition, hydrothermal/solvothermal, co-precipitation, and sol-gel, this paper details the high-end applications of rare earth in permanent magnet materials, luminescent materials, catalytic materials, hydrogen storage materials, and high purity targets. On the basis of the above analysis, we know that developing rare earth preparation methods and exploring new materials are closely related to bring out the full potential of the rare metals in the fields of electronic information, automobile exhaust purification, aerospace, physiology, and medical treatment. At the same time, the prospects of increasing the added value of rare earth products, developing new rare earth materials, optimizing production process, and developing high-end applications are put forward.