Abstract: The application of lightweight structures with excellent energy absorption performance is crucial for enhancing vehicle safety and energy efficiency. Cellular structures, inspired by the characteristics observed in natural organisms, have exhibited exceptional structural utilization in terms of energy absorption compared with traditional structures. In recent years, various innovative cellular structures have been proposed to meet different engineering needs, resulting in significant performance improvements. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of novel cellular structures for energy absorption applications. In particular, it outlines the application forms and design concepts of cellular structures under typical loading conditions in vehicle collisions, including axial loading, oblique loading, bending loading, and blast loading. Cellular structures have evolved to meet the demands of complex loading conditions and diverse research methods, focusing on achieving high-performance characteristics across multiple load cases. Moreover, this review discusses manufacturing techniques and strategies for enhancing the manufacturing performance of cellular structures. Finally, current key challenges and future research directions for cellular structures are discussed. The aim of this study is to provide valuable guidelines for researchers and engineers in the development of next-generation lightweight cellular structures.