Purpose <p>The objective is to highlight that marine creatures generate a diverse range of bioactive chemicals with significant biological activity. This review seeks to investigate the potential of marine-derived chemical substances as anticancer agents, summarizing their modes of action and clinical relevance in cancer therapy.</p> Methods <p>A thorough literature review was performed utilizing scientific sources such as PubMed, Scopus, as well as Web of Science to locate pertinent research published in the past twenty years. The investigation concentrated on marine-derived chemicals exhibiting anticancer characteristics, their origins, modes of action, and therapeutic uses.</p> Results <p>Numerous categories of marine-derived chemicals, such as alkaloids, peptides, polysaccharides, terpenes, and so on demonstrate significant anticancer efficacy. These drugs function by several methods, including angiogenesis suppression, apoptosis induction, disruption of critical signaling pathways which include PI3K/Akt, MAPK, and NF-κB as well as cell cycle arrest. Certain marine-derived pharmaceuticals, have received approval for therapeutic application, whilst others remain in preclinical along with clinical development stages.</p> Conclusions <p>Marine-derived chemicals are an intriguing source of innovative anticancer medicines with distinct modes of action. Notwithstanding obstacles associated with large-scale manufacturing,&#xa0;toxic effects, and bioavailability, ongoing research and development may yield useful cancer therapies.</p>