Abstract: According to the 2012 estimates,esophageal cancer(EC)was the fifth commonly diagnosed cancer and the forth leading cause of cancer-related death.The incidence and mortality rates of EC have been increasing in China.Combined-modality therapy for EC is well accepted,and molecular targeted therapy becomes a research area.Nowadays,multiple agents have been developed and studied in phase Ⅱ/Ⅲ trials,mainly including cetuximab,erlotinib,trastuzumab,bevacizumab.In this review,we focus on the development of molecular targeted therapy for EC.