Unlocking Multimodal Document Intelligence: From Current Triumphs to Future Frontiers of Visual Document Retrieval

Abstract: With the rapid proliferation of multimodal information, Visual Document Retrieval (VDR) has emerged as a critical frontier in bridging the gap between unstructured visually rich data and precise information acquisition. Unlike traditional natural image retrieval, visual documents exhibit unique characteristics defined by dense textual content, intricate layouts, and fine-grained semantic dependencies. This paper presents the first comprehensive survey of the VDR landscape, specifically through the lens of the Multimodal Large Language Model (MLLM) era. We begin by examining the benchmark landscape, and subsequently dive into the methodological evolution, categorizing approaches into three primary aspects: multimodal embedding models, multimodal reranker models, and the integration of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Agentic systems for complex document intelligence. Finally, we identify persistent challenges and outline promising future directions, aiming to provide a clear roadmap for future multimodal document intelligence.

Submission Type: Long submission (more than 12 pages of main content)

Previous TMLR Submission Url: https://openreview.net/forum?id=00It8arycM

Changes Since Last Submission: Last submission was desk rejected due to the incorrect format. We have changed the font to the official format as required.

Assigned Action Editor: ~Hongfu_Liu2

Submission Number: 8583