The demand for a new generation of high⁃energy⁃density batteries is increasingly urgent for the present market. As one of the most promising secondary batteries, the research on cathode materials has attracted much attention. Carbon materials with biomass as the precursor have been widely applied to the research of lithium⁃sulfur battery anode materials because of their wide range of sources, easy preparation, and high environmental friendliness. This paper introduces the current research status of cathode materials, the main methods of preparing biomass⁃based carbon materials and the effect of different factor of preparation on the biomass⁃derived carbon materials and on the performance of lithium⁃sulfur batteries. In addition, the paper also introduces some examples of biomass⁃derived carbon materials improved by current methods. Finally,the future development direction in lithium⁃sulfur battery cathode materials was proposed.