Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are considered as a promising power source for electric vehicles and electronic products such as mobile phones, laptops, and tablets. The anode material plays a crucial role in the reliability and safety of LIBs. Among the anode candidates, MLi2Ti6O14 (M = 2Na, Sr, Ba, Pb) materials have very good prospects due to their excellent safety, good structure stability, negligible volume change, and suitable voltage plateau of about 1.3–1.4 V (vs. Li0/Li+). However, MLi2Ti6O14 materials frequently sustain serious capacity decay at high rate due to the poor electronic and ionic conductivities. Therefore, it is very meaningful to summarize comprehensively and scientifically the advances of this material family from all aspects. The main objective of the review is aimed to summarize various proposed strategies (i.e. material treatment, morphology control, surface modification, and cation doping) and the breakthroughs to enhance the rate capacity and cycling stability of the MLi2Ti6O14 materials. The review will provide some insights into the structures and performance issues, which will be helpful for the design and optimization of the MLi2Ti6O14 materials.