The wide application of composite materials is an important trend in the aerospace field, and its excellent material properties make its demand increasing. However, with the continuous emergence of new materials and the complexity of structural forms of components, manufacturing costs continue to increase, hindering the application and development of composite materials. At present, the use of manufacturing process simulation technology to improve the level of composite material manufacturing and reduce manufacturing costs is an effective and important way. The structural function design simulation technology of composite materials was reviewed, and the development dynamics of simulation design technology were analyzed from three aspects of mechanical properties, geometric structure and special functions. The mechanical and thermal characteristics of materials in the molding process and the simulation method of molding deformation prediction control were summarized. The mechanical and thermal state of the cutting interface, the damage process of the material and the difference of the damage caused by different processing techniques were analyzed. Finally, suggestions were given from the aspects of composite constitutive model and damage theory, influence factors of composite forming process, performance parameter database, molding simulation of ceramic matrix composite, evaluation criteria of composite surface quality, and computational efficiency of manufacturing process simulation.