Controlling mercury emission from coal-fired boilers is the top priority of mercury reduction in China. It is of great significance to develop efficient and low-cost mercury removal materials for mercury pollution control from coal-fired flue gas. Ce is the most abundant rare earth element, and cerium oxide has the virtues of non-toxicity and relatively inexpensive. More importantly, excellent oxygen storage capacity and redox reaction activity of cerium oxide make it have great application potential in the field of mercury removal. The latest research progress of cerium-containing materials in removing mercury from flue gas was reviewed. The various preparation methods of cerium-containing materials were analyzed, and the key points for building the molecular model of cerium-containing catalysts or adsorbents were emphasized. The mercury removal performance of cerium-containing materials was introduced, and the direction for future study on carbon-based materials and non-carbon-based materials were discussed. The influences of the main flue gas components on the mercury removal performance of cerium-containing materials were discussed in detail. The promotion or inhibition mechanisms of SO2、H2O、NO、HCl、NH3 and O2 on the elemental mercury removal were summarized. Finally, the prospects of the research on cerium-containing mercury removal materials were proposed. The results show that the preparation of cerium containing materials by impregnation is simple, but the uniformity of the active components is hard to achieve. The coprecipitation method is unsuitable for low loading samples. The sol-gel method can ensure uniform mixing at the molecular level. The materials prepared through template method, hydrothermal method and solvothermal method have good dispersion characteristics, while the flame synthesized catalysts still need further development. The content of cerium and the cerium dispersion state should be considered in the construction of cerium-containing materials molecular model. Physisorption, chemisorption and catalytic oxidation all contribute to the mercury removal from cerium-containing materials. Low concentration SO2 is favorable for Hg oxidation, but high concentration SO2 will compete with Hg for the adsorption sites on cerium oxide surface. Cerium-containing materials have better resistance to H2O compared with other materials. NO can  react with oxygen in cerium containing materials to produce NO2 and promote the oxidation of Hg. Adding CuO to cerium-containing materials can alleviate the adverse effect of NH3 on mercury removal. The promotion degree of HCl and O2 on mercury removal efficiency is affected by cerium oxide content. Based on the existing research, the following problems are still to be solved before the commercial application of cerium-containing mercury removal materials: competition or synergistic removal mechanisms of mercury and flue gas components on the surface of cerium-containing polymetallic materials; environmental impact of cerium-containing materials; mercury removal performance of cerium-containing materials in practical flue gas, design and optimization of mercury removal reactor and mercury removal unit, techno-economic study of cerium-containing materials. Based on the experimental and simulation investigations from the literature, the mercury removal performance of cerium-containing materials and the influence mechanisms of flue gas components on the adsorption and oxidation of elemental mercury were summarized. The focus of future work was proposed,  in order to lay a foundation for the development and application of cerium-containing materials in the field of flue gas mercury removal.