Cu-Ta composite with high strength, high electrical and thermal conductivity along with excellent thermal stability, is a promising candidate for applications in many fields, such as electrical devices, defense, rail transport, ultra-high field pulsed magnets and biomedical engineering. Extensive studies have been carried out to meet the application requirements, and significant results were achieved. This work provides a comprehensive review of recent developments in the fabrication methods, performance, and applications of Cu-Ta composites. Besides, the problems of present researches have been pointed out and development trends in future are prospected.