Natural clay minerals are rich in resources, low in cost, abundant in pore structure and stable chemical properties, which are excellent solid adsorbent matrix materials for emission reduction and carbon cycling. The structure characteristics clay minerals for preparation of CO2 solid adsorbents are summarized. Recent development on clay mineral-based CO2 adsorbents with kaolinite, halloysite, montmorillonite, attapulgite, sepiolite and vermiculite are reviewed. The application in industrial flue gas capture and biogas upgrading are introduced. It is indicated that preparing clay mineral-based CO2 adsorbents with high CO2 uptakes, excellent CO2 selectivity, large adsorption temperature range, suitable for industrial application are a technical challenge for the future development.