Objective To explore the characteristics of diagnosis and treatment for the rectal cancer in the young patients （≤40 years）．Methods The domestic and abroad literatures about the research on the progress of rectal cancer in the young patients were reviewed, the clinical data of patients with rectal cancer were compared between the young patients and the other age patients, the characteristics of diagnosis and treatment for the rectal cancer in the young patients were summarized．Results The onsets of the young patients with rectal cancer were related to the diet，lifestyle, and genetic factors．Compared with the older patients, more later stage, higher percentage of poor differentiation, earlier lymph node metastasis were found in the young patients with rectal cancer．Rectal cancer of the young patients was often misdiagnosed and with a poor prognosis．Currently，surgery assisted with neoadjuvant therapy was generally acknowledged as a better method．Conclusions It has specificity in epidemiology, pathology, treatment, prognosis, and so on for rectal cancer in the young patients, but surgery needs further research．