Ion mobility spectrometry（IMS）is a technique characterizing compounds based on the mobility of gas phase ions under the joint influence of electric field and gas flow.Ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry（IMS-MS）combines the advantages of ion mobility separation and mass spectrometry analysis.In addition to differentiation by the mass-to-charge ratio（m/z）,the ions can be separated according to their sizes and shapes,thus providing a new dimensional information of mobility based separation and measurement.When coupled with chromatographic technique,IMS-MS can be used to obtain four dimensional data,including retention time,drift time,m/z and signal intensity to improve the analysis accuracy and specificity.The collisional cross section（CCS）of ions can also be calculated to explore the structural information.In this paper,recent advances of IMS-MS in the fields of public security,drug testing,food safety,environmental monitoring,pharmaceuticals analysis and biomacromolecules were reviewed.The trends and prospects for the development of IMS-MS were discussed,which may provide a theoretical support and a technical guidance for the researchers engaged in relevant fields.