Cage-like carboranes，with their unique polyhedral spatial architecture and three-dimensional（3D）delocalized electron system，are regarded as 3D analogs of benzene rings and exhibit 3D aromaticity that is not found in classical two-dimensional（2D）aromatic systems. These compounds generally possess high chemical stability，high thermal stability，and excellent biocompatibility，endowing them with broad application prospects in the fields such as organic optoelectronic materials and biomedicine. This article systematically reviews the significant research progress achieved in recent years regarding carborane-based luminescent materials，focusing on aspects such as molecular design strategies and application field. In terms of molecular design，researchers have effectively regulated the aggregated structure，charge transfer properties，and excited-state characteristics of molecules by means of embedding carborane cages into conjugated backbones，using them as pendant groups，or employing them to construct donor-acceptor（D-A）systems. This regulation，in turn，enables the enhancement of luminescent quantum yield and the tuning of emission wavelength ranges. In the field of applications，this class of materials not only demonstrates great potential in high-performance optoelectronic materials but also exhibits prominent application value in fields such as circularly polarized luminescence（CPL），stimuli-responsive materials，and bioimaging. Finally，the article provides an outlook on the challenges and development prospects for the future development of this category of materials.