Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. In the past, chemotherapy was the cornerstone of drug treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Nowadays, the addition of immunotherapy has completely rewritten the therapeutical landscape of advanced esophageal cancer, especially esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (which is more sensitive to immunotherapy than adenocarcinoma). Immune checkpoint inhibitors, represented by programmed death 1 (PD-1) and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), have enabled a variety of gastrointestinal tumors, such as gastric cancer, rectal cancer, liver cancer, etc., to achieve sustained remission and survival benefits. With the continuous evolution of immunotherapy mode, immunotherapy has become one of the important strategies for the first-line treatment of advanced esophageal cancer. A number of studies have demonstrated a significant benefit in overall survival and progression-free survival with immunosuppressive agents combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, regardless of PD-1/PD-L1 expression. This article reviews the application progress of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors combined with chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of locally advanced or metastatic esophageal cancer, in order to provide more evidence for clinical treatment.