Liver cancer is a common malignant tumor of digestive system, including primary liver cancer and secondary liver cancer. Primary liver cancer can be divided mainly into hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma, and secondary liver cancer mostly comes from liver metastasis of colorectal cancer. The treatment of liver cancer include surgical resection, liver transplantation, ablation, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE), transcatheter arterial chemoperfusion, targeted therapy and immunotherapy. According to Barcelona staging (BCLC) and China's code for the diagnosis and treatment of primary liver cancer (2019 Edition), TACE can be used as the first choice for patients with unresectable medium-term hepatocellular carcinoma.With the rise and development of drug-eluting bead, drug-eluting bead TACE (D-TACE) began to emerge in the treatment of various stages of liver cancer. The application of TACE, especially D-TACE in hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma and liver metastasis, comparison of the clinical benefits and adverse reactions with other treatment methods, and the molecular mechanisms of tumor recurrence and prognosis after TACE treatment have been focused and summarized in present paper.