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Pancreatic cancer is a highly malignant tumor of the digestive tract. Given the lack of appropriate screening and diagnosis methods, the deep location of the pancreas, difficulty in a tissue biopsy, rapid tumor progression and low response rate to radiotherapy or chemotherapy, its morbidity is almost similar to the mortality. Approximately 80% of patients with pancreatic cancer have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis, and the average survival time is less than 1 year. The extremely aggressive nature of pancreatic cancer and the low survival rate make it a heavy global burden. With the advancement of many basic and clinical studies, new progress has been made in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer, diagnostic methods, preoperative treatment, radiotherapy techniques and systemic treatment of advanced diseases during the last year. These results further enrich the treatment options for patients with pancreatic cancer and improve the prognosis. The present review summarized the important findings in pancreatic cancer research in 2021.