Tumor is an important problem that modern medicine needs to overcome. Early screening and treatment of tumor require immediate attention in clinical practice. Therefore, this paper describes the basic principles and detection characteristics of several common tumor marker nanobiosensors based on nanoparticle, nanowire, nanotube, and nanoarray material. Core-shell nanoparticles have abundant modification function. Nanowires are often made into field-effect tube to detect tumor markers. Based on the scale effect, nanotubes are primarily used in transport of carriers and detection platform. Metal and metal-oxide nanoarrays can detect cancer cells using the principle of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. In addition to the advantages and application characteristics determined by different structures, nanobiosensors have the overall advantages of rapid and convenient detection of tumor cells and low detection limit compared with traditional detection methods. Therefore, nanobiosensors offer great potential in medical detection and tumor research.