 The abstract mammalian target of rapamycin, MTOR, signaling pathway regulates cell proliferation, autophagy, and apoptosis through multiple signaling pathways and is associated with various diseases including cancer, arthritis, insulin resistance, osteoporosis. MTOR inhibitors are hot target in antitumor therapy research and have shown high activity in combination with other drugs. The review introduces the role of MTOR signaling pathway on apoptosis, autophagy, growth, and metabolism of tumor cells, as well as the research progress of MTOR inhibitors in the tumor field. This article was offered by Sulin Su, Tao Tao, Hong Mei Li, and others.