The society's growing demand on long-range electrical vehicles and long-life consumer electronics put urgent requirement on the development of advanced lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) of high energy and low cost. Si, with top abundance and highest theoretical capacity to lithium, is expected to bump the LIB's energy density to above 300 Wh kg⁻¹ at a relatively low cost. Over the past 2 decades, tremendous effort has been made in bringing Si-based anode materials to the battery market. In this book article, we review the progress from three fundamental aspects: (i) Si nanostructure design; (ii) binder study; and (iii) electrolyte optimization and interphase engineering. We address the practical aspects of Si-based anode materials and remaining challenges with a special focus on the full cell configuration. We hope the short walkthrough of the Si technology will help the readers have a quick grasp of the efforts made in improving the performance of Si-based anodes and appreciate the outcomes of the fundamental research brought to the development of practical LIBs.