Cancer is an age related disease and the leading cause of death in elderly people aged 60-79 years. Because the ageing process is highly individualized, elderly cancer patients require comprehensive geriatric assessment(CGA). Based on the CGA and the characteristics of the specific cancer, chemotherapy in elderly cancer patients should be individualized. In this paper, we reviewed the physiological and pharmacokinetic changes in elderly people, the influence of these changes on cancer chemotherapy, the CGA and the main points of cancer chemotherapy in elderly patients. Given that the population is ageing, it is important to improve the level of cancer chemotherapy in elderly cancer patients.