The incidence of breast cancer has been increasing over the last four decades, although the mortality
rate has decreased. Endocrine therapy and chemotherapy are the most used options for cancer treatment but
several obstacles are still attributed to these therapies. Smart materials, such as nanocarriers for targeting, delivery
and release of active ingredients, sensitive to intrinsic-stimuli (pH-responsive, redox-responsive, enzyme-
responsive, and thermo-responsive) and extrinsic-stimuli (ultrasound-responsive, magnetic-responsive,
light-responsive) have been studied as a novel strategy in breast cancer therapy. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are used
in the design of these stimuli-responsive drug carrier and delivery systems, either through inclusion complexes
with hydrophobic molecules or covalent bonds with large structures to generate new materials. The present
work aims to gather and integrate recent data from in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies of CD-based stimuli-
responsive systems to contribute to the research in treating breast cancer. All drug carriers showed high in
vitro release rates in the presence of a stimulus. The stimuli-responsive nanoplatforms presented biocompatibility
and satisfactory results of IC50, inhibition of cell viability and antitumor activity against several breast cancer
cell lines. Additionally, these systems led to a significant reduction in drug dosages, which encouraged possible
clinical studies for better alternatives to traditional antitumor therapies.