Contemporary social problems, such as energy shortage and environmental pollution, require developing green energy storage technologies in the context of sustainable development. With the application of secondary battery technology becoming widespread, the development of traditional lithium (Li)-ion batteries, which are based on insertion/deinsertion reactions, has hit a bottleneck; instead, conversion-type lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have attracted considerable attention owing to the high theoretical capacity of Li metal anodes. In this review, Li-S, Li-O₂, and Li-SOCl₂ batteries are used as examples to summarize LMBs based on their conversion reactions from the perspectives of cathode material, anode material, electrolyte, separator, and current collector. Key challenges exist regarding the conversion reactions of various batteries. To achieve the optimum performance and improve the application effect, several improvement strategies have been proposed in relation to reasonable designs of next-generation high-performance rechargeable batteries.