Abstract: Yam as a medicinal and edible resource plant, is abundant in bioactive compounds including polysaccharides, polyphenols, allantoin, and saponins, these constituents endow yam with diverse functional properties, such as antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-tumor, immunomodulatory and alleviating enteritis effects. The extraction methods, functional properties, and the primary mechanisms through which these compounds exert their effects in different varieties of yams from various regions are reviewed, and the future research priorities are proposed to offer valuable insights for the advanced processing of yams and to inform further investigations into their functional characteristics.