Polyhalomethyl compounds, especially those with dichloromethyl or trichloromethyl structures, are widely used in fields, such as medicine, agriculture and organic functional materials. In addition, polychloromethyl could also be easily converted into various functional groups, such as amino, hydroxyl, carboxyl and carbonyl groups, which could be further used to construct complex ring structures. Therefore, the development of effective polychlorinated methylation strategies has important research significance in the synthesis of many natural molecules with biological activities. Chloroform is an easily available chemical resource that can undergo free radical transformation in the presence of free radical initiators, forming •CCl3 radical through hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and •CHCl2 radical through halogen atom transfer (XAT). According to the different types of free radicals produced by chloroform, the latest research progress of chloroform participating radical addition of alkenes to construct polychloromethyl substituted compounds is summarized, and the reaction range, limitations and some mechanisms are also discussed.