The surface plasmon effect is a typical representative of the application of physical effects in photocatalysis technology. And as new control technology of light field, it has opened up new directions and new ideas for the development of photocatalysis technology. The bottleneck of the development of photocatalytic technology can be solved from a new perspective, and has been extensively studied in the past decade. The localized surface plasmon resonance effect can regulate the spectral response range of the photocatalytic system by adjusting the composition, morphology and medium environment of the nanoparticles. In addition, the photocatalyst redox reaction rate, mass transfer, and adsorbed molecules on the surface of the polarized photocatalytic material can be increased by enhancing light scattering, hot electron injection, inducing a strong local electric field, and heating the surrounding environment, thereby further enhancing the photocatalytic properties of the material. Integrating these advantages into a photocatalytic material system can significantly improve the solar energy conversion efficiency of conventional photocatalytic materials, which is a very interesting development direction. In this review, the basic principles, material composition, regulation and recent progress of surface plasmon resonance in photocatalytic systems are presented in detail. Not only the process of generation and migration of hot electrons, but also the relationship between interband transition and surface plasmon resonance in noble metals is discussed. Finally, the prospective and challenges for future development of plasmonic photocatalysis are summarized.