Pancreatic cancer is a common malignant tumor currently, and its mortality is nearly equal to its morbidity. How to improve early diagnosis and treatment efficiency of pancreatic cancer has become an urgent issue. The role of tumor markers in screening patients with pancreatic cancer, assessing treatment efficacy and detecting postoperative recurrence has become increasingly important. In this paper, the authors mainly discuss the role of tumor markers for diagnosis and prognosis estimation of pancreatic cancer through reviewing the research progress of tumor makers in the body fluids such as the blood serum and pancreatic juice of pancreatic cancer patients and current problems.