<p indent="0mm">Although ozone has been widely used in water treatment due to its strong oxidation and sterilization abilities, it reveals slow reaction rate with refractory organic pollutant. Heterogeneous catalytic ozonation (HCO) technology has been widely used for removal of refractory organic compounds and improving the biodegradation properties of wastewater. Metal oxides are stable and effective catalysts for HCO. However, not much choice can satisfy the critical requirements of water treatment, such as environmental safety, economic efficiency, availability, catalytic activity and recovery. Crystal facet engineering tunes the atomic arrangement on the surface of metal oxide, resulting in the exposure of specific crystal facets. The type and ratio of exposed crystal facets can significantly affect the efficiency of ozone decomposition, pollutant degradation and disinfection by-product generation during the HCO process. This review comprehensively summarizes and comments on the current crystal facet control methods for the synthesis of HCO catalysts for the first time. The methods are classified into bottom-up methods and top-down methods; the former contains crystalline surface adsorption, solvent conditioning and supercritical oxidation methods, while the later includes thermal decomposition and direct calcination methods. The enhancement mechanism of HCO processes induced by crystal facet engineering is discussed. The modified HCO catalysts are strengthened not only in absorption function, revealing different adsorption behaviors for O<sub>3</sub>, water molecule or organic pollutants, but also in free radical producing rate due to the change of surface micro environments. The surface atomic arrangement and coordination mode of modified HCO catalysts may also be changed, leading to the more rapid electron transfer. Finally, the applications of integrated crystal facet modified HCO catalysts in water treatment for the past few decades are synthetically summarized, including the degradation of organic matter, enhanced sterilization, bromate and toxic organic by-products control in HCO processes. The crystal facet engineering modified HCO technologies used in full scale applications or coupled with other advanced oxidation techniques are also presented. Considering that the crystal facet engineering modified HCO material still faces some problems in the depth of scientific exploration and the breadth of practical applications, several significant issues to be solved are listed in the current review, including how to establish the theoretical system for directionally controlling the crystal face exposure, how to mass-produce the facet engineering modified HCO catalysts economically and efficiently, and how to guarantee the stability of the facet engineering modified catalysts during the HCO processes. To address these issues, some future research directions and priorities are proposed. The intrinsic relationship between crystal facet regulation and HCO performance and mechanism should be deeply explored through the intersection of precise synthesis, advanced characterization and theoretical simulation. More types of facet engineering modified HCO catalysts can be applied in practical treatment processes by selecting low-cost green synthesis methods, and so the application will be widened.