Delayed fluorescent (DF) materials have high internal quantum efficiency because of the triplet excitons involved in the radiation transition, and the spin-forbidden transition can effectively improve their luminescent lifetime. Compared with traditional afterglow materials including metal-containing inorganic coordination compounds and organic compounds, the DF materials based on carbon dots (CDs) have drawn extensive attention because of their advantages of low toxicity, environmental friendliness, stable luminescence, easy preparation and low cost. Most CDs-based DF materials can be realized by embedding CDs in matrix with covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds or/and other supramolecular interactions. Recently, matrix-free self-protective CDs-based DF materials are emerging. This review systematically summarizes the DF mechanism and structural regulation strategies of CDs-based DF materials, and the applications of CDs-based DF materials in anti-counterfeiting, information encryption, temperature sensing and other fields are introduced. Finally, the existing problems and future potentials of CDs-based DF materials are proposed and prospected.