Abstract: Carbon nanomaterials are one of the hotspots in the research of drug delivery systems for cancer. Compared with the traditional drug delivery systems for cancer treatment, carbon nanomaterials can be used as drug carriers after modification based on their advantages of large specific surface area and unique optical properties. They have the characteristics of high drug loading, good biocompatibility, tumor targeting and lasting action time, indicating great potential and development space. In this paper, the properties and functions of quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and mesoporous carbon nanospheres are introduced in the order of dimensional quantum properties. The current research focus and existing problems of carbon nanomaterials are discussed in order to provide a reference for the safe and effective application of carbon nanomaterials in tumor therapy.