On the background of the demand for deep mineral exploration, tectono-geochemistry has distinct advantages over soil and rock geochemistry in predicting hidden minerals, which has aroused the research interest of domestic and foreign scholars. This article summarizes the research progress on concepts and theories as well as exploration application results of tectono-geochemistry, leading to the following understandings: 1) Tectono-geochemistry is an emerging interdisciplinary subject that explores the intrinsic relationship between tectonic dynamics and geochemical substances and studies the behavior and results of material components in tectonic processes. 2) Tectonic action controls the physical and chemical properties of material activation in geological space, drives the migration of materials in tectonic fluids, and ultimately leads to the differentiation and enrichment of elements. 3) Tectono-geochemistry has made significant research progress in terms of "Tectonically driven geochemistry," "geochemically induced structural deformation," and "geochemical dynamic process simulation," but the "dynamic mechanism" still needs further exploration. 4) The workflow of tectono-geochemistry exploration applications includes structural analysis, structural sampling, statistical analysis of element combinations, anomaly interpretation, mineralization model construction, and target area delineation. 5) The application of tectono-geochemistry in ore deposit exploration has achieved remarkable results, including polymetallic deposits of Cu, Au, Pb, Zn, Ag, Mo, Sb, Sn, etc. Foreign scholars tend to study the mineralization mechanisms and mineralization models, while Chinese scholars focus on deep predictions and target area delineation of ore bodies. In addition, the rich deep-seated, three-dimensional, and multi-media sampling, the application of big data and machine learning methods in data analysis, and the verification of ore body spatial distribution by short-wave infrared are all future development trends of tectono-geochemistry exploration, with great research potential and broad application prospects.