Cancer is a heterogeneous disease characterized by maladjustment of cell death. The types of cell death were mainly divided into two forms including accidental cell death and regulated cell death (RCD). In recent years, researchers have discovered dozens of RCD modes, among which apoptosis, pyroptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis are the most widely studied. Cuproptosis is a new cell death mechanism that first proposed on 17 March 2022. It is recognized as a unique and both copper and mitochondria dependent RCD. The research and development of targeted drugs for regulating different cell death pathways will be hots and difficulties in the treatment of refractory cancer in the future.