Prostate cancer is one of the commonly diagnosed malignancies in males.Circulating tumor cells(CTCs)play a critical role in the recurrence and metastasis of prostate cancer.In recent years,the detection of CTCs has been used for monitoring the recurrence and metastasis of prostate cancer,guiding treatment decisionmaking in cancer.At present,there are lots of methods to detect CTCs.Here,we set out to review the advances in the detection and the clinical application of CTCs in prostate cancer.