In the chemical process, abnormal situations are precursor events of incidents and accidents. Abnormal situation management (ASM) can effectively identify abnormalities and prevent them from evolving into incidents or accidents, ensuring the safe and smooth operation of chemical plants. In recent years, ASM has attracted extensive attention from the process industry and from academia, and a lot of research work has been conducted. However, the intelligence level of ASM in actual chemical plants is still relatively low, and industrial applications still face many difficulties and challenges. This review first summarizes the concepts and involved in the contents of ASM. Then, the latest research progress in various aspects of ASM is systematically reviewed. Finally, the challenges and future research directions of ASM are analyzed based on the perspective of industrial application. This review aims to provide the most cutting-edge reference for follow-up research on ASM, and to promote the intelligent development and practical industrial application of ASM in the chemical process.