Tantalum is a refractory metal and have broad application prospects in high temperature technology, electronic technology, corrosion resistance engineering, atomic energy and medical industries, which is due to their excellent properties, such as excellent corrosion resistance, biological characterization and dielectric properties. Additive manufacturing technology can realize the integral forming of tantalum parts with complex shapes and high utilization, and the obtained parts can be individual customization. In this paper, the principle and research states of spherical tantalum powder for additive manufacturing were introduced. The research states of microstructures and properties in tantalum and porous tantalum components were summarized and analyzed. Some current problems existed in additive manufacturing of tantalum were analyzed, and the future development of this technology was put forward.