This article mainly reviews the connotation, commonly used assessment tools, current status, influencing factors and intervention measures of pain catastrophizing in cancer patients. It proposes that pain catastrophizing is a core psychological determinant of pain behavior, and research on pain catastrophizing is of great significance to pain management of cancer patients. It is suggested that pain catastrophizing in patients with different types of cancer should be studied, specific scale for measuring pain catastrophizing in cancer patients needs to be developed, and artificial intelligence-based intervention programs should be constructed, in an effort to improve the quality of pain management in cancer patients.