Multiscale structures of biological materials exhibit inherent multifunctional integration. This special biological solution provides some inspiration for scientists and engineers to design multifunctional artificial materials with multiscale structures. In this review, we focus on recent research progress in some typical biological materials (such as lotus leaves, rice leaves, butterfly wings, water strider legs, insect compound eyes, fish scales, red rose petals, brittlestars, spider silks, nacre, glass sponges, gecko feet, mussels, and others) and the corresponding bio-inspired multiscale materials possessing function integration. The challenges and perspectives for bio-inspired design of multifunctional structures in the future are also briefly addressed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.