Since the demands for lithium have been in explosive growth recently and several great clay lithium resources were founded in China, the development and utilization of clay-type lithium resources become a hot topic. In order to provide a guidance for the concentration and extracting lithium of clay-type lithium resources, this review systematically summarized the main types and characteristics of clay-type lithium resources and the research status of lithium extraction from clay lithium resources. Meanwhile, the flotation research status of the main mineral of clay lithium ore was also summarized. Furthermore, we discussed the difficulties in the development and utilization of clay-type lithium ore and put forward the subsequent research orientation. This paper can provide a guidance for the concentration and extracting lithium of clay-type lithium resources in the future.