The adsorption properties of carbonaceous adsorbents (such as, activated carbon, biochar, CNTs and carbon⁃silica composites) for VOCs were summarized in this paper. The influence of the structure of adsorbents, the characteristics of VOCs, the humidity and the adsorption temperature were analyzed respectively. The development prospect of carbonaceous adsorbents in the future VOCs adsorption process was proposed. While continuously increasing the adsorption capacity of carbonaceous adsorbented for VOCs, improving the performance of recycling, reducing the impact of high⁃temperature and humidity environments on the adsorption capacity in industrial production was a new trend in the research and development of carbonaceous adsorbents in the future.