In order to acquire the mechanism of surface oxidation corrosion of plutonium (Pu) and its compounds and explore the environmental system that can effectively alleviate the oxidation corrosion of plutonium materials, some research results on surface chemistry of plutonium and its compounds were reviewed, which deepen the understanding of the corrosion behavior of plutonium and its compounds in the air. The adsorption behavior of active gases such as H₂, O₂, CO, CO₂ and H₂O (gaseous) and rare gases such as Xe on different surfaces of plutonium and its compounds was compared and analyzed, and some useful conclusions were obtained. It is concluded that the interaction of plutonium with various active gases and rare gases is accompanied by charge transfer, and the mechanism of reaction is mainly that the new chemical bonds are formed because of the interaction between the different hybrid orbitals of gas atoms (or molecules) and plutonium atoms such as Pu7s, Pu6p, Pu6d and Pu5f, which leads to related reactions and phenomena. The research work prospect on the surface corrosion of plutonium and its compounds is also taken from three aspects including improving research methods, carrying out research on other surface adsorption behavior of plutonium atoms and exploring new systems for protecting plutonium materials from oxidative corrosion.