Abstract: T cells play a vital role in adaptive anti-tumor immunity. However, infiltration of T cells into tumor tissues is limited. Even when infiltration occurs, the T cell activity is inhibited or even exhausted. The lack of activation of these T cells contributes to tumor immune escape and results in poor efficiency of anti-tumor immunotherapy, such as checkpoint inhibitors. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T), and T-cell receptor engineering T cell (TCR-T) are the three main types of adoptive T-cell therapy strategies. In preparing adoptive T cells, tumor-reactive T cells are selected, amplified, and enriched for TILs, or tumor-specificity is modified using gene engineering methods for CAR-T and TCR-T. These adoptive T cells could overcome the deficiencies associated with tumor infiltrating T cells. Although the study of adoptive T-cell therapy has been relatively late in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), preliminary results from clinical trials suggest a potential anti-tumor effect, which warrants further study. In this review, we summarize the principles, culture methods, and biological characteristics of adoptive T-cell therapy. We also describe the latest progress in the treatment of NSCLC. The aim is to provide new ideas for clinical research design and immunotherapy in NSCLC.