RETURN means stop traversing this chain and resume at the next rule in the previous (calling) chain. If the end of a built-in chain is reached or a rule in a built-in chain with target RETURN is matched, the target specified by the chain policy determines the fate of the packet.
比如
iptables -N TEST //新建一个TEST的链
iptables -A INPUT -s 192.168.0.0/24 -j TEST //所有进到INPUT的链的数据包中源IP:192.168.0.0/24的网段转到TEST的链
iptables -A TEST -p tcp --dport 80 -j RETURN //在TEST链中目的端口号为80的tcp数据包返回到INPUT链来进行匹配。