Lightweight sheet metals are attractive for aerospace and automotive applications due to their exceptional properties, such as low density and high strength. Sheet metal forming (SMF) is a key technology to manufacturing lightweight thin-walled complex-shaped components. With the development of SMF, numerical simulation and theoretical modelling are promoted to enhance the performance of new SMF technologies. Thus, it is extraordinarily valuable to present a comprehensive review of historical development in SMF followed by state-of-the-art advanced characterization and modelling approaches for lightweight metallic materials. First, the importance of lightweight materials and their relationship with SMF followed by the historical development of SMF are reviewed. Then, the progress of advanced finite element technologies for simulating metal forming with lightweight alloys is covered. The constitutive modelling of lightweight alloys with an explanation of state-of-the-art advanced characterization to identify the constitutive parameters are presented. Then, the formability of sheet metals with major influencing factors, the techniques for measuring surface strains in SMF and the experimental and modelling approaches for determining the formability limits are clarified. Finally, the review is concluded by affording discussion of the present and future trends which may be used in SMF for lightweight metallic materials.