Abstract: Cold-formed thin-walled steel buildings are characterized by superior seismic behavior and suitable for industrialized construction. These features make it have a place in the construction industry at home and abroad. Meanwhile, it meets the new requirements of China's ‘The thirteenth Five-Year Plan’ for the development of building construction. Researches and design codes on the mechanical performance of cold-formed thin-walled steel buildings were comprehensively reviewed in this paper. Some deficiencies are found in traditional cold-formed thin-walled steel buildings in load-transfer mechanism and member section type. The ‘non-box’ type frame system using cold-formed thin-walled steel compound section was put forward. Summarizing the research progress in mechanical performance of the member, joint, and the overall frame, this paper present formulas of the composite column stability capacity, joint ultimate moment and joint initial stiffness. Finally, some future researches on the compound section cold-formed thin-walled steel frame system are proposed.