While previous research on cancer biology has focused on genes that code for proteins, in recent years it has been discovered that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs)play key regulatory roles in cell biological functions. NcRNAs account for more than 95% of human transcripts and are an important entry point for the study of the mechanism of cancer development. An increasing number of studies have demonstrated that ncRNAs can act as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes to regulate tumor development at the epigenetic level, transcriptional level, as well as post-transcriptional level. Because of the importance of ncRNAs in cancer, most clinical trials have focused on ncRNAs to explore whether ncRNAs can be used as new biomarkers or therapies. In this review, we focus on recent studies of ncRNAs including microRNAs (miRNAs), long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), circle RNAs (circRNAs), PIWI interacting RNAs (piRNAs), and tRNA in different types of cancer and explore the application of these ncRNAs in the development of cancer and the identification of relevant therapeutic targets and tumor biomarkers. Graphical abstract drawn by Fidraw.