Abstract: Fatty acid synthase (FAS), a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of long-chain fatty acid, has been discovered that it is closely associated with weight loss and anti-cancer recently, it is therefore expected that exploiting FAS inhibitors may provide a new approach for therapy of diseases related. In the light of the data available either at home or abroad, the research and development of both fatty acid synthase and fatty acid synthase inhibitors are systematically summarized, the weight reduction, anti-cancer mechanisms, inhibitors exploitation and so on in particular, the prospects are also evaluated in order to provide a valuable reference for further investigation.