Viral infections cause millions of deaths worldwide each year, posing a continuous threat to public health and socioeconomic stability. Conventional disinfection methods such as ethanol, chlorine-based agents, and ultraviolet (UV) light are limited by their high cost, short duration of action, and environmental sensitivity, restricting their ability to provide sustained antiviral protection. In contrast, inorganic functional materials offer advantages in long-lasting activity, environmental stability, and multi-mechanism action, making them suitable for applications such as medical coatings and air filtration. These materials inactivate viruses through synergistic pathways, including physical disruption, oxidative damage via reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, bio-interfacial intervention, and structural destabilization of viral capsids. This review highlights recent advances in mechanism-driven inorganic antiviral materials and discusses their translational challenges and emerging opportunities for controlling environmental pathogens.