The phase change material (PCM) based battery thermal management system (BTMS) is an effective cooling system for ensuring the reliability, safety, lifespan and performance of li-ion batteries. The kinds of PCM-based BTMS include the pure PCM, composite PCM and hybrid PCM-based BTMS. This work focuses on the review of the research progress in the PCM-based BTMS to propose its prospects and challenges. The research results show that most pure solid-liquid PCMs are of low thermal conductivity, which leads to large amounts of heat accumulation in a harsh operating environment. The addition of carbon materials and metals can significantly increase the thermal conductivity and the strength of the PCMs. The hybrid BTMS can further reduce the temperature rise and enhance the temperature uniformity of the battery compared with a single BTMS. Thus, the hybrid BTMS is more suitable to high power battery packs. This study provides a direction for future research, including screening new PCMs, improving the efficiency, reducing the energy consumption, volume and weight of the PCM-based BTMS.