The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is one of the most important theories of individual behaviors in social psychology. It assumed that people’s actual behaviors were directly influenced by behavioral intentions, which in turn, result from comprehensive evaluations of attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. TPB has been widely applied in multiple areas but has not been well-known by Chinese scholars in the field of communication research. This paper synthetically reviewed the history, model, development, applications, as well as limitations of TPB. It also reviewed the current status of TPB-related research as well as the future direction of research in Chinese mass communication area.