Electromagnetic metamaterial perfect absorbers have unique subwavelength structures, which can generate effective electromagnetic resonance with the incident electromagnetic wave, and achieve nearly 100% perfect absorption over a specific frequency range. Electromagnetic metamaterial perfect absorbers, especially the terahertz band perfect absorbers, have been widely concerned by researchers at home and abroad, and have made some progress. In this paper, the research progress of the terahertz band-based electromagnetic metamaterial perfect absorber is reviewed, the basic structural characteristics, performance, and theoretical model of the metamaterial absorber are described, and the future development trend and application prospect of them are briefly discussed.