With the rapid development of nanotechnology, nano oncology medicine that is formed through the combination of nano science and oncology medicine has become an important field emerging in nano science. Because of its unique optical properties, the gold nanorod (GNR), that is a rod-shaped nano materials, has shown great potential applications in the biomedical field, especially, in GRNs thermotherapy, radio-sensitizing effect therapy and targeting therapy of the tumor. Being a newly-developed therapy, gold nanorods combined with internal radiotherapy has already obtained excellent durative effect in targeting therapy of tumor. This paper aims to make a comprehensive review about its mechanism and its clinical application and research situation in recent years.