Corrosion, more specifically, pitting corrosion happening extremely in marine environments, leads to lifespan of materials drastically decreasing in service, which causes enormous economic loss and even environmental disaster and casualties. In the past decade, increasing efforts have been made to study the corrosion behaviors of materials in chloride-containing aqueous environments. Herein, this work provides an overview of recent progress in understanding the degradation mechanism and improving the corrosion resistance and corrosion-wear resistance of materials from bulk metal to surface treatment involving organic coating, metal and its alloy or compound coating. The particular emphasis is given to the periodic layered structures (PLSs), whose anti-corrosion properties outperformed others to some extent, wherever in terms of bulk metal or surface treatment, regardless of aggressive environment (corrosion or corrosion-wear conditions). Numerical simulation based on kinds of models at different scales is introduced to deeply understand the process of corrosion and/or corrosion-wear in chloride-containing aqueous environment. Combined experimental result with numerical simulation, the micro-galvanic corrosion dominated degradation mechanism of PLSs is critically analyzed. Types of setups to realize corrosion-wear in laboratory are also summarized. At last, future research and development are prospected, offering to develop a basic application of PLSs designed by corrosion protection methodology in the near future.