Cancer is the second-leading cause of death worldwide. Cancer mortality is largely caused by the absence of recognizable early signs and a poor prognosis. Therefore, developing efficient diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers is crucial to reducing the incidence of cancer and improving its prognostic accuracy. tRNA-derived fragments are a new class of non-coding RNAs with important regulatory roles in cancer biology. In this paper, the research progress of tRNA-derived fragments as biomarkers in tumorigenesis, development, and prognosis was reviewed to provide a theoretical basis for cancer diagnosis and prognostic assessment.