Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare disease for which almost no prospective studies have focused on its diagnosis and treatment. MBC is more likely to be positive for hormone receptor while the ratio of triple negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive is very low. Most men have undergone radical mastectomy and modified radical mastectomy after diagnosis of breast cancer during past decades and sentinel lymph node biopsy has been gradually used in recent years. The indications of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy refer to female breast cancer (FBC). Tamoxifen is the first choice of adjuvant endocrine therapy for MBC and chemotherapy can also improve MBC patients' prognosis. Anti-HER2 therapy is recommended for patients with high risks, though there is no definite evidence for its application. Data for the use of new drugs in MBC are lacking,whereas it may be a reasonable approach for metastatic MBC. In general, the overall prognosis of MBC is worse than FBC, but a few studies showed that MBC and FBC had similar survival rates after adjustment for demographic characteristics, disease stage, and treatment. Most of published articles are retrospective studies including small cohorts of MBC patients, which have been reviewed in this article. The review summarizes current data on the epidemiology of MBC, pathological and clinical characteristics, prognosis and treatment, and data published in our country during the past decade.