With the rapid development of commodity economy, fake and shoddy goods are increasingly rampant. Fluorescent anti-counterfeiting is one of the most effective anti-counterfeiting means. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), as a fluorescent material with excellent properties, is demonstrated wide range of preparation methods, good biocompatibility, broad excitation spectrum and long fluorescence life. Showing great application potential in the field of fluorescence anti-counterfeiting. Thus, the preparation method, structure and fluorescence mechanism of carbon quantum dots are firstly introduced in this review. Subsequently, the common modification methods, such as heteroatom doping, surface functionalization and composite modification, are reviewed through an inside-out approach. In addition, the application status in anti-counterfeiting is systematically analyzed, mainly focusing on the research of CQDs in anti-counterfeiting based on single-mode, double-mode and triple or more mode response mechanisms in detail. Compared with the single-mode anti-counterfeiting, the multi-mode response mechanism is more complex, which significantly improves the security and reliability of anti-counterfeiting, thereby positioning multimodal approaches as the predominant direction for next-generation anti-counterfeiting technologies. Thus, this study provides a reference for the subsequent research of the modification and intelligent anti-counterfeiting technology of carbon quantum dots anti-counterfeiting materials through systematic review.