AbstractOver 75% of hospital‐acquired or nosocomial urinary tract infections are initiated by urinary catheters, which are used during the treatment of 16% of hospitalized patients. Taking the United States as an example, the costs of catheter‐associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are in excess of $451 million dollars/year. The biofilm formation by pathogenic microbes that protects pathogens from host immune defense and antimicrobial agents is the leading cause for CAUTI. Thus, tremendous efforts have been devoted to antimicrobial coating for urinary catheters in the past few decades, and it has been demonstrated to be one of the most direct and efficient strategies to reduce infections. In this article, we briefly summarize the current methods for preparation of antimicrobial coatings based on different stages in the biofilm formation, highlight recent progress in the urinary catheter coating material design and selection, discuss approaches to improving their long‐term antimicrobial efficacy, biocompatibility, multidrug resistance and recurrent infections, and finally outline future requirements and prospects in antimicrobial coating material design. The scope of the works surveyed is confined to antimicrobial urinary catheters. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 107A: 445–467, 2019.