Adlay is one of the oldest crops in China. Adlay, known as the “king of gramineous plants”, is a kind of traditional healthy food and has high nutritional value. Current studies have found that adlay with high nutritional value which can be anti-tumor, reduce blood sugar and pressure level, and also has benefit with digestion, analgesia, anti-inflammatory, and heat relieving and so on. At the same time, adlay has been widely used in clinical, cosmetic research and kinds of food processing and production. This paper reviewed the active components, physiological functions and industrial applications of adlay in order to provide theoretical reference for multi-dimensional utilization of adlay and its high-quality development in future industry.