In recent years, the incidence of primary liver cancer has been increasing, among which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) being the most common subtype. The treatment of early HCC is mainly surgery, but most patients are not diagnosed until the late stage of the disease. The treatment methods and effects are very limited and the prognosis is very poor. Although targeted therapy has prolonged the overall survival of patients with HCC, the overall efficacy is unsatisfactory. The emergence of immunotherapy has brought new therapeutic prospects for HCC. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, among which programmed death-1/programmed death ligand-1 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated antigen-4 are the representative immunological checkpoints, have attracted more attention. This article will introduce the application of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of advanced HCC, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of advanced HCC.