Abstract: Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective means of controlling and preventing infectious diseases. Until now humans have eradicated smallpox and polio through vaccination. Still, most viruses that harm humans lack effective vaccines. In addition, certain RNA viruses such as influenza viruses and novel coronaviruses have led to immune escape of existing vaccines due to their mutability. To this end, the development of safe and efficient universal vaccines is urgently needed. Nanoparticle vaccines can exhibit multiple different dominant antigen epitopes to induce stronger and broader-spectrum immune protection. The review expounds the administration routes of nanoparticle vaccines, the advantages of nanoparticle vaccines from the perspective of stimulating the immune response of the host, advantages of nanoparticle vaccines for presenting antigens and delivering drugs, summarizes several commonly used nanoparticle vaccine carriers and their advantages and disadvantages, and introduces the latest clinical progress of several SARS-CoV-2 nanoparticle vaccines, in order to provide reference for the development of new antiviral vaccines.