Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neuropathological disease characterized by abnormal accumulation of phosphorylated tau protein in the brain. The currently recognized neuropathological standards are still preliminary, On one hand, they are based on a limited number of selected samples, and on the other hand, there are few studies that compare the pathology of CTE with other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, CTE is widely considered to be the result of repeated head attacks, but a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can also induce CTE. Based on different viewpoints, this article summarizes the characteristics of CTE, research history, and the correlation between TBI and CTE based on domestic and foreign literature.