Two-dimensional (2D) materials have received great attentions in recent years, including BN, transition metal dichalcogenides, transition metal oxides and black phosphorus. Among them, graphene-like transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), such as MoS 2 , WS 2 , MoSe 2 , TiS 2 , are emerging as key materials in electronics and chemical industry because of their excellent physical and chemical properties. Because of the quantum confinement and surface effects, the 2D nanomaterials exhibit completely different properties from their bulk, leading to a new field in material science and technology. The ability to prepare high quality and large scale TMDCs is the foundation for their practical applications. Until now, many methods have been employed to prepare various morphologies of TMDCs, including mechanical cleavage, intercalation-exfoliation, ultrasonic-assisted liquid-phase exfoliation, chemical vapor deposition and hydrothermal synthesis. In this paper, the authors introduce the crystal structures and electronic properties of TMDCs briefly. The dimension from bulk to single or few layers leads to changes of these nanomaterials, showing novel properties in electronic transfer rate, catalytic activity, etc. Then the top-down and bottom-up preparation methods are summarized, and the advantages and disadvantages of these methods are discussed. At present, the challenge is that there are no proper ways to prepare TMDCs in large scale with controlled thickness and general application. As every single material has its performance limitation, the hotpot in preparation lies in the hybridization with other materials to create functional composites, aiming to improve their electronic and optical properties for special devices, and the most commonly used components are graphene and other 2D materials. And the authors also introduce the research progress in applications systematically, with emphasis on electronic devices, optoelectronic devices, sensing platforms, energy storage devices and catalyst, showing a wide range of applications. In addition, the authors also give some perspectives on the challenges and prospects in this field.