Over the past two decades, researchers have thoroughly investigated cooperation within social dilemmas to address societal challenges. However, there has been limited interdisciplinary review of this field. This paper provides the first comprehensive analysis of 2,232 articles from 2003 to 2023 within this research domain, utilizing CiteSpace. Our analysis includes statistical, collaboration, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence analyses to elucidate current trends, key contributors, themes, and emerging areas. The findings indicate that: (1) The publications have shown a rising trend, meaning cooperation topics in social dilemmas receive wide attention. (2) Cooperation in social dilemmas is a prominent and interdisciplinary topic characterized by strong collaboration among regions, authors, and journals. (3) Key topics include social value orientation, spatial public goods games, procedural fairness, and group cooperation. Additionally, emerging research trends may encompass evolutionary dynamics of cooperation, complex networks of social dilemmas, sex differences in cooperation, and climate change. (4) Future research should focus on interdisciplinary theoretical integration, the brain mechanisms of cooperation, emerging social dilemmas in the real world, and cross-cultural comparative studies. This study provides a reference for researchers to understand the theme and research hotspot of cooperation within social dilemmas.