Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an extremely infectious disease with a high infection rate that is caused by infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This disease, which can cause severe respiratory symptoms and lung damage, has killed millions of people worldwide since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In addition to the necessity for vaccine prevention to control this pandemic, there is also an extremely urgent need to develop drugs that can effectively inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection or treat symptomatic COVID-19. However, the high mutation rate of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to frequent failures of the vaccines and drugs that have been developed to date. Ivermectin, a macrolide compound, is a commonly used anti-parasitic drug, and it also has a variety of pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and anti-tumor effects. Recent studies have shown that ivermectin may inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection or relieve COVID-19 symptoms. The feasibility of an improved strategy of ivermectin use against SARS-CoV-2 infection, based on a bioinformatics analysis of the interaction between ivermectin and SARS-CoV-2 receptors, cell model validation, animal infection model studies, and epidemiological data, is discussed in this review article. The existing research data are insufficient, so it remains necessary to perform a clinical efficacy evaluation for determining whether ivermectin can be used clinically for the treatment of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, a strategy of drug combination could be adopted to improve the effect of ivermectin on the inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 and the treatment of COVID-19.