Integrated circuit (IC) chips play a more and more important role in everyday life and the national economy, and the capability of manufacturing chips is a key indicator of a nation’s technology status. Due to the Wassenaar Arrangement, China cannot import the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technique, and thus ArF immersion lithography with the multi-patterning process is essential to the development of ICs, which poses higher requirements for lithographic materials used in the multi-patterning process. In this paper, we summarize the paths of the multi-patterning process and lithographic materials involved upon the review of the development of lithography technology. Moreover, we analyze the technical development of and challenges faced by advanced lithographic materials such as ArF immersion photoresists, pattern shrink materials, and trilayer materials (spin-on glass and spin-on carbon). The review and outlook of the technical evolution indicate that the passive equipment-driven development mode of lithographic materials has transformed into the coordinated development mode of material innovation and equipment processes. In particular, with limited equipment, China should take the innovation of materials as the driver to develop an IC path with Chinese characteristics.