Progressively, the well explored and studied mechanical properties of a bulk metal are compared with the corrosion behaviour obtained from its surface, which enables promising improvements in desired applications. An example is magnesium metal: where, by developing new types of surface modifications by understanding its inconsistent corrosion behaviour, it would be possible to apply this engineering metal safely as a biocompatible metal, in addition to its widely used application areas such as the automobile and aerospace industries. Accordingly, many scientists worldwide have focused their attention on new approaches either to fabricate anti-corrosive coatings or tailor the corrosion rate of magnesium for industrial and biomedical applications. This work covers different types of surface/bulk modification of magnesium or magnesium alloys with different surface pre-treatments, polymer coatings, nanostructuring and composite formation.