Recently, inorganic hybrid pigments have become one of the research focuses in the field of inorganic pigments. Clay minerals are abundant, cheap and readily available natural nanomaterials, and have become ideal carrier materials for building various inorganic hybrid pigments due to their unique nanoscale, bar-shaped and tubular structures. The structural characteristics of clay minerals are introduced. The research and application progress on clay mineral-based cobalt blue, bismuth yellow, iron red and other color hybrid pigments are also reviewed. Finally, the future development direction of clay mineral-based inorganic hybrid pigments is prospected.