The spinal fracture in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is predominantly unstable, involving all three columns of the spine. If AS combined with spinal fracture is not effectively treated in the early stage, continuous stress on the lesion site may result in pseudarthrosis, progressive kyphotic deformity, neurologic deficits and other complications during later stages. Currently, the diagnosis of AS combined with spinal fracture mainly relies on symptoms, signs and imaging examination. However, there is a certain rate of missed diagnoses. Although surgical intervention is preferred, there is no unified standard for selecting the surgical approaches. Anterior cervical surgery, due to potential risks of unstable fixation and vascular nerve damage, is limited to a selected group of AS patients combined with concurrent cervical spine fracture. The combined anterior and posterior approach provides good stability, but patients may not tolerate the surgical trauma. The traditional posterior open surgery is widely employed and can achieve good results, but it also causes significant surgical trauma and intraoperative bleeding. Minimally invasive posterior percutaneous procedures are becoming more and more popular due to its advantages of less trauma, less bleeding and faster recovery. Additionally, the use of robot-assisted and navigation techniques increases both safety and accuracy during operations. In this study, the authors reviewed the progress in the diagnosis and treatment of AS combined with spinal fracture, providing references for optimizing diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.