Hydroxamic acid is an important chelating collector in flotation. In recent years,according to different needs,many new hydroxamic acid collectors had been developed and used in mineral flotation,and their adsorption mechanism on different mineral surfaces/interfaces had been studied by atomic force microscopy （AFM） nanomechanical technology combining with advanced spectroscopy and energy spectrum testing methods. The development of new hydroxamic acid collector molecules and the in-depth study of the adsorption mechanism of reagent molecules on mineral surface/interface are helpful to the efficient utilization of mineral resources and guide the design of new high-efficiency hydroxamic acid molecules. Therefore,this paper systematically reviewed the flotation performance and adsorption characteristics of collectors such as alkoxybenzohydroxamic acid, mercaptohydroxamic acid, aminohydroxamic acid, amide-hydroxamic acid, carboxyl-hydroxamic acid and bishydroxamic acid on mineral surface/interface. and introduced the quantitative measurement and analysis of the interaction force between hydroxamic acid group-mineral,probe/mineral-mineral and bubble-mineral in the hydroxamic acid system. In addition,the research direction of developing new hydroxamic acid collectors were prospected,and the application of AFM nanomechanics in the field of collector molecular design was also discussed. The application of new hydroxamic acid collector in mineral flotation will provide a new strategy for the efficient exploitation and utilization of mineral resources.