Soot particles from diesel engines, which cause serious environmental pollution and make great harm to human health, have attracted extensive attention. At present, catalytic purification technology is one of the most effective and widely used technologies for controlling emissions of soot particles. The development of catalysts with excellent performance is the most critical factor for catalytic purification technology. In this paper, the research progress of manganese-based catalysts for soot combustion are summarized. The manganese-based catalysts, including single-component manganese-based catalysts, manganese-based composite oxide catalysts, and manganese-based fixed oxides catalysts(i.e. perovskite-type, spinel-type, and hydrotalcite-type manganese-based catalysts), are detailedly introduced. Meanwhile, the research progress of manganese-based catalysts for the simultaneous removal of soot particles and NO_x is briefly described. At last, the existing problems of manganese-based catalysts for catalyzing soot combustion and the prospect of manganese-based catalysts are proposed.