Multifunctional rural transformation is a new stage of rural transformation and development in the new era, which is an important topic of rural geography. The internal and external environment of rural areas has changed significantly, showing a diversified and multifunctional development trend. Based on the analysis of the connotation of multifunctional rural transformation, this paper summarizes the research process of multifunctional rural transformation abroad from the aspects of transformation paths and contents, driving factors and mechanisms, transformation trend and difficulties. Developed countries such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea have paid attention to the research of multifunctional rural transformation earlier, and gradually transformed from multifunctional agriculture to multifunctional rural. They have gradually integrated the theories and methods of geography, economics, sociology, landscape ecology and biology, and the research has involved multi-level spatial scales such as global, national, regional, rural and farm. The multifunctional rural transformation studies abroad provide reference and inspiration for the study of rural development and planning, and can provide references for the implementation of rural revitalization strategy and rural characteristics and differentiated development in China.