Life cycle management (LCM) originated from life cycle assessment (LCA). It is an environmental management method or environmental management system (EMS) based on the principles or framework of LCA. LCM involves the application of LCA ideas, including comprehensive management of entire life cycles of products, techniques, and services based on sustainable production and consumption. It is an effective route to resolve problems such as structure disorder, lower eco-efficiency, and redundant metabolism in complex ecosystems. The origin and connation of LCM were fully reviewed, the differences and connections between LCM and LCA were examined, and the relationship between LCA and EMS was also analyzed. The application of LCM at the levels of products, enterprise, industry, and city were summarized and critically reviewed. At product level, LCM was mostly applied to the evaluation and management of industrial products, but rarely to technique and engineering or assessment of environmental performance. At enterprise level, LCM research focused on comprehensive management and decision-making regarding products and techniques for a few large enterprises, but rarely for medium-sized or small enterprises. At industry level, available LCM methods were applied to deconstruct the value chains of different industries and industrial ecological chains, which were used to evaluate resource-use efficiency, material consumption intensity, and environmental impact of all chains. At city level, LCM mainly focused on solid waste management, and research methods included material flow analysis, life cycle cost analysis, and life cycle assessment. Lastly, future research fields of LCM were discussed from six perspectives.