Anal fistula is one of the common perianal diseases. How to find a balance between reducing the recurrence rates and choosing an appropriate treatment method so as to improve the patients’ quality of life is always a difficult issue in the treatment of anal fistula. In recent years, the ligation of intersphincteric fistula tract (LIFT) and its combination with anal fistula plug (LIFT-plug) have been reported many times by scholars at home and abroad. The use of biological materials, video-assisted anal fistula treatment (VAAFT), laser fusion technique, and new technologies such as self-injection have realized the improvement of conventional methods, and also shown its advantages. With the aid of diagnosis and assessment by assistant approaches such as electronic computer tomography (CT), endoanal ultrasound (EUS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), appropriate treatment selection and performance of individualized comprehensive therapy is development trend of the clinical treatment of anal fistula in the future. The authors address the issues in this field.