Abstract: Against the background of increasingly prominent energy crisis and environmental problems, electrochemical energy storage technology has been developed rapidly. Among the competitors in the field of “beyond lithium” energy storage, lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S) have become the most promising new energy storage technology owing to the advantages of high theoretical specific capacity, high mass energy density, environmental friendliness and low cost. However, there are still some bottleneck problems to be solved in the development of lithium-sulfur batteries, such as poor conductivity of cathode materials, polysulfide shuttle effect and electrode volume changes during charge and discharge. As the key components of lithium-sulfur batteries, the design and preparation of electrode and separator materials play the important roles in solving these problems and improving the overall performance of the batteries. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and their derived composite materials exhibit the advantages of light weight, good electron and ion conductivity, abundant channels and uniform distribution of active sites to be used as electrode or separator modification materials for lithium-sulfur battery. In addition, this kind of composite material also possesses the characteristics of controllable morphology and composition, abundant source and adjustable pore size, which are convenient for mechanism research. Herein, we comprehensively introduce the composition, working mechanism and application of lithium-sulfur batteries. Importantly, we also review the research progress of MOFs and derivatives as cathode materials and separator materials in lithium-sulfur batteries in recent years. The prospects of the materials in improving the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries are also prospected.