Gastric cancer is the fifth leading incidence and the third leading cause of death in the world. Gastric cancer patients in China are often in advanced stages and have a poor prognosis. Cancer progression depends not only on the cancer cells themselves, but also on the physiological state and composition of the tumor microenvironment in which they are located. Cancer-associated fibroblasts as the major cell type in the tumor microenvironment played an important role in cancer progression. This paper mainly expounds the origin and classification of cancer-associated fibroblasts, and its research progress on gastric cancer invasion and metastasis, growth, angiogenesis, matrix remodeling, immunomodulation and cancer suppression, and summarizes the relevant anti-tumor strategies by targeting cancer-associated fibroblasts in gastric cancer, to provide more information for use of cancer-associated fibroblasts in targeted therapy of gastric cancer.