The lithium sulfur batteries (LSBs) are considered as one of the promising next generation energy storage devices due to the high theoretical specific capacity of sulfur (1675 mAh g−1), naturally available, low cost. However, the practical LSBs are impeded by the well-known ‟shuttle effect” combined with other technical drawbacks. The ‟shuttle effect” causes rapid capacity decay, severe self-discharging and low active material utilization. The polysulfide (PS) which has lone pair electrons in each sulfur atom is considered as Lewis base and shows strong affinity to various polar, Lewis acid and catenation interactive materials but very weakly interacts with the non-polar conductive carbons. The ‟shuttle effect” occurs due to the diffusion of high order PS from the cathode to the anode and then low-order PS back to the cathode. The PS is polar and, due to a lone pair of electrons associated with the sulfur atom, is considered a Lewis base. As such, the PS shows a strong affinity with various polar and Lewis acid materials. In addition, a more novel trapping can be performance through a catenation reaction. For LSBs to compete with the state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the LSB areal capacity need to be ∼6 mAh cm−2 (which is proportional to sulfur loading). To achieve this target the PS shuttling needs to mitigate, which can be achieved through using functional materials. This review addresses the aforementioned phenomena by considering the PS phase interacts with the various functional materials and how this impacts areal capacity and cycling stability of LSBs.