Renal carcinoma is one of the most common tumors in the urinary system, and its incidence is on the rise. Renal cell carcinoma, as the main type of renal tumor, has a high frequency of local invasion and distant metastasis, and about 33% to 50% of patients with renal cell carcinoma have metastases at the time of discovery. Since there are no specific signs and symptoms in the early stage of renal cell carcinoma, the main treatment is surgical resection, insensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and the therapeutic means are limited, the early diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma can greatly improve the chances of effective treatment of renal cell carcinoma, which is of great significance for the effective treatment of renal cell carcinoma. Aptamers are oligonucleotide fragments obtained from nucleic acid molecular libraries by systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). It can selectively bind to small molecular ligands or high affinity protein targets, and has high affinity and specificity to target molecules or cells, and has been widely used in tumor imaging diagnosis and targeted therapy. This article mainly reviews the aptamers related to renal cancer, and summarizes and discusses the application of aptamers in the diagnosis and treatment of renal carcinoma.