Abstract: Gold nanostructures with unique optical and photo-thermal properties based on their size and shape have wide application potential in tumor diagnosis, imaging, photo-thermal therapy, and drug delivery because of surface plasmon resonance. The optical properties of gold nanomaterials allow its use for dark field imaging, optical coherence tomography, and two-photon imaging. Gold nanomaterials can also be used as carriers for a variety of fluorescent molecules and drugs, achieving multifunctional imaging, chemotherapy, photodynamic therapy, and so on. Photon-electron and electron-electron interactions of gold nanomaterials, which are excited by near-infrared laser, will generate heat that can be used for tumor photothermal therapy. This phenomenon promotes drug release, and photoacoustic imaging. The combined application of hyperthermia and chemotherapy based on gold nanoparticles is effective in optimizing the efficacy of cancer treatments. Therefore, gold nanoparticles can integrate multiple functions into one single system and realize the integration of tumor diagnosis and therapy, which provide new insights for the on-demand therapy and personalized medicine development. This study reviews the recent progress of several gold nanoparticles in the integrated applications for tumor theranostics, including gold nanoshells, gold nanorods, hollow gold nanospheres, gold nanocages, and gold nanostars. The major strategies of gold nanomaterials in biomedical applications are also discussed.