Owing to its low cost, short process and low energy consumption, semi-solid processing (SSP) of aluminum (Al) and magnesium (Mg) alloys has been considered as a competitive approach to fabricate complicated components with excellent performance. Over the past decade, significant progress has been achieved in deeply understanding the SSP process, the microstructure and performance of the fabricated components in China. This paper starts with a retrospective overview of some common slurry preparation methods, followed by presenting the performance and the underlying mechanisms of SSP fabricated alloys. Then, the mainstream opinions on the microstructure evolution and rheological flow behavior of semi-solid slurry are discussed. Subsequently, the general situation and some recent examples of industrial applications of SSP are presented. Finally, special attention is paid to the unresolved issues and the future directions in SSP of Al and Mg alloys in China.