Abstract. Synthetic nanomaterials have the disadvantages of large-scale investment, high energy consumption, complex production process and heavy environmental load. Palygorskite mineral nanofibers are typical porous materials widely existing in nature and have the advantage of high surface area, moderate cation exchange capacity and excellent salt resistance, which have been widely applied as adsorbents in the dyes' removal from waste water. Due to the aggregation of palygorskite crystal bundles, it is difficult to totally release the adsorption capacity of palygorskite. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the microscopic structure of palygorskite with various physical or chemical techniques. Based on the above reason, this paper briefly summarizes the palygorskite-based composites research progress of palygorskite mineral nanofibers, and related research orientations have also been proposed.