Recently, there have been significant advancements in liquid-environment atomic force microscopy (AFM) with true atomic resolution. The technical advancements are followed by a rapid expansion of its application area. Examples include subnanometer-scale imaging of biological systems and three-dimensional measurements of water distributions (i.e., hydration structures) and fluctuating surface structures. However, to continue this progress, we should improve the fundamental performance of liquid-environment dynamic-mode AFM. The present AFM technique does not allow real-time imaging of atomic-scale dynamic phenomena at a solid-liquid interface. This has hindered atomic-level understanding of crystal growth and dissolution, catalytic reactions and metal corrosion processes. Improvement in force sensitivity is required not only for such a high-speed imaging but also for various surface property measurements using a high-resolution AFM technique. In this review, we summarize recent works on the improvements in the force sensitivity and operation speed of atomic-resolution dynamic-mode AFM for liquid-environment applications. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics