Abstract: Chemotherapy, which aims to kill tumor cells and improve the survival rate of patients, remains one of the main methods for treatment of malignant tumors. However, the regrowth and metastasis of tumor cells following chemotherapy is one of the reasons for high mortality rates in cancer patients. Modern research suggests that once chemotherapy drugs act on tumor cells, they also cause a series of host responses that may trigger many changes on related components in the tumor microenvironment, which can promote tumor recurrence and metastasis. This review focuses on research progress on the above changes.