A poor prognosis in cancer patients is closely related to tumor invasion and metastasis, which is affected by many factors. A prerequisite for tumor metastasis is the breakdown of the extracellular matrix (ECM), which is a natural cellular barrier. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 ( MMP2) has a unique enzymatic activity with the ability to break through the ECM, which may promote tumor metastasis. MMP2 influences tumor invasion, metastasis and patient prognosis through various regulatory pathways in different malignant tumors and may be a marker for predicting cancer metastasis. This review demonstrates the role of MMP2 in tumor invasion and metastasis and proposes MMP2 as a new target for the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors.