This paper reviewed the research progress in antimicrobial packaging materials prepared using alginate as the major base material. This paper discussed the prospects of sodium alginate-based materials applied to antimicrobial packaging through analysis and summarization of the research results and the current research status all over the world. The analysis showed that sodium alginate-based packaging materials directly carrying active antimicrobial substances prepared using physical methods showed obvious antibacterial effect in a short time, and the released amount of antimicrobial substance reduced obviously and the antibacterial effect decreased with the prolonged time. On the other hand, chemically modified sodium alginate-based packaging materials carrying active antimicrobial substances showed increased embedding rate of the antimicrobial substance as well as prolonged effective antibacterial time. In conclusion, the research on controlled and sustained-release antimicrobial packaging materials based on sodium alginate has just started. Through further modification of the properties of sodium alginate and its derivatives, there would be a great application prospect in the respect of controlled and sustained-release antimicrobial packaging materials.