Acute leukemia is one of the more common types of leukemia, which is classified according to the speed of disease progression and the type of leukemic cells. In medicine, acute leukemia can be divided into two types: acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Patients with acute myeloid leukemia have predominantly primitive naïve myeloid cells in the bone marrow and peripheral blood, while patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia have predominantly primitive naïve lymphocytosis. In general, the main symptoms of patients with acute leukemia include infection, bleeding, anemia, enlarged liver and spleen, enlarged lymph nodes, and skeletal pressure pain, etc. The diagnosis and typing of acute leukemia are mainly performed by blood routine, bone marrow aspiration, bone marrow biopsy, immunohistochemistry, chromosome and genetic methods. According to WHO standards, acute leukemia can be diagnosed if the proportion of primitive cells (acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute monocytic leukemia containing naïve cells) in the patient’s bone marrow or peripheral blood exceeds 20%, the clinical manifestations are consistent, and other diseases are excluded. For the treatment of acute leukemia, a few types can currently be considered for targeted drug therapy, while most types require chemotherapy-based treatment. For patients with moderate to high risk refractory relapses, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the main consolidation or salvage therapy. Without aggressive standardized treatment, acute leukemia generally has an ultra-short course and progresses rapidly, with most patients dying in about six months. In conclusion, acute leukemia is a highly dangerous and rapidly progressing hematologic malignancy, but it is possible to obtain a cure with reasonable treatment, so one needs to pay attention to the timely diagnosis and treatment of acute leukemia, but not to lose confidence.