Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) is a common symptom of Alzheimer's disease (AD), with an occurrence of 90%. BPSD can lead to poor prognosis and dysfunction in patients with AD, but few safe and effective treatments are available. This article overviews the occurrence frequencies of different manifestations of BPSD in AD and their changes with clinical courses of the disease, and introduces the current research progress on genetic characteristics, pathophysiological mechanism, biomarkers and therapeutics of BPSD in AD to provide references for early recognition and treatment of BPSD in AD.