Epithelial membrane protein (EMP) 2 is one of the seven proteins in the EMP gene family and is a tissue-specific transmembrane protein. Recent studies have shown that it exhibits different expression patterns in different tumor tissues and exhibits differentiated manifestations in the invasion and metastasis of different tumors, such as promoting or inhibiting them. Based on these characteristics, progress has been made in the field of anti EMP2 therapy, such as the development of monoclonal antibodies, which may bring new avenues for cancer treatment. Based on this, this article reviews the research progress of EMP2 in tumor invasion and metastasis, in order to provide ideas for determining new tumor targets.