Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world. China is known as "the country with the highest prevalence of liver cancer", and more than half of the cases of HCC worldwide occur in China. Recently, immunotherapy for HCC has drawn wide attention owing to its satisfying effects on specific solid malignancies. Both basic and clinical researches on immunotherapy for HCC have made some progress, which has laid a foundation for future clinical application of immunotherapy in HCC patients. The main immunological strategies for HCC include adoptive immunotherapy, indirect immunotherapy, and indirect non-immunological therapy. Despite the potential benefits for HCC, challenges and obstacles of immunotherapy remain, such as the self-tolerance immune mechanism of the liver and the lack of ideal target antigen. In a word, the application of immunotherapy for HCC in clinical practice is a tough task to accomplish and a long way to go.