Abstract: Polydopamine has attracted increasing attention due to its unique physical and chemical properties, such as metal ion chelating ability photothermal conversion, multifunctional viscosity, high chemical reactivity, high dispersity, good biocompatibility and biodegradability. Moreover, after surface modification, polydopamine can deliver some functional substances to the specific sites, thereby leading to effective treatments of diseases. The physical and chemical properties of polydopamine-based materials are introduced, and then their applications in cancer treatment are described in detail. Finally, the development prospect of poydopamine-based materials is summarized in this paper, and recent advances in drug delivery vectors based on polydopamine are reviewed.