Pores are the most ubiquitous moieties in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Based on pore, the MOFs can thus communicate with various guest molecules, leading to many important applications such as storage, separation, and catalysis. However, its abundant surface, presenting another basic component, is often ignored. This is primarily due to the intrinsic stability of surface atoms of MOFs towards external surroundings, or an opposite status of badly destroying the structure of MOFs. In this concept article, we present a novel MOF technique, which is a complete surface technique. The design, mechanism, applications, challenges and perspectives are discussed in detail.