Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the eighth most common cancer worldwide, with more than half of patients experiencing local recurrence or distant metastasis. With the development of medicine, the approval of immunotherapy drugs has brought new hope to the patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC (R/M HNSCC) . At present, many studies have confirmed that neoadjuvant immunotherapy, represented by programmed death receptor 1(PD-1) checkpoint inhibitor, has good efficacy and safety, the combination therapy based on neoadjuvant immunotherapy, including neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, targeted therapy and neoadjuvant double immunotherapy, has become the research hotspot. This article reviews the progress of neoadjuvant immunotherapy in HNSCC.