The innovation of surgical concepts and technology has promoted the development of surgical operations towards minimal- or non-invasiveness. In recent years, a variety of minimally- or non-invasive treatment methods have emerged, among which histotripsy is being noticed due to its characteristics of non-invasive, non-thermal ablation and stimulation of the immune system. Histotripsy typically uses microsecond to millisecond length ultrasound pulses with high peak negative pressure to instantly generate a cluster of cavitation bubbles in the target area and the expansion and collapse of the cavitation bubbles shatter the target tissue into subcellular fragments. According to the formation mode of cavitation bubbles, it can be divided into cavitation cloud histotripsy and boiling histotripsy. Nowadays, histotripsy has been applied in benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, liver cancer, renal cancer, osteosarcoma, pancreatic cancer, cardiovascular diseases, thrombosis, and so on. This review provides an overview of histotripsy covering the mechanism, characteristics, and the latest research results on in-vitro experiments, animal studies, and clinical trials.