The competition between cells can influence cells’ growth, survival, as well as their functions．In tumor micro-environment, there also exists a fierce competition between tumor cells and non-tumor cells．Because different cells have different nutritional conditions and energy metabolism phenotypes, the state of cells has a closed relationship with energy metabolism．The growth of tumor cells is very fast, and the invasion and metastasis are easy to occur．All of these are based on the support of their own energy．Tumor cells mostly depend on the way of glycolysis to gain their energy, glucose can be converted to pyruvate by glycolysis when it enters into cells．The rate of glycolysis is related to the amount of glucose flowing into the cell, the activity of coenzyme and other related enzymes．Succinate dehydrogenase(SDH) is the essence of the tricarboxylic acid cycle which locates in the inner membrane of mitochondria．Mutations in the SDH gene are involved in many cancers, such as renal cell carcinoma, wild-type gastrointestinal stromal tumors (WT GISTs) and hereditary paraganglioma, pheochromocytoma．The mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase complex is composed of multiple subunits, including SDHA, SDHB, SDHC, and SDHD．Among them, SDHA plays an important role, and SDHA mutation can cause the loss of enzyme activity in SDH tumor tissues．Immunohistochemistry and transcriptome analysis shows that the SDHA mutation can cause hypoxia, this may lead to increased angiogenesis and other SDHx mutations．The mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase subunit A (SDHA) provides electrons for the mitochondrial electron transport chain．The abnormal expression of SDHA plays a key role in tumorigenesis．In this paper, SDHA is reviewed on the basis of the effect of SDHA on energy metabolism in tumor cells.