Abstract: Electromagnetic wave absorbing materials have made great strides in the last few decades and are playing an increasingly important role in radiation protection and anti-radar detection due to their important attenuation of incident electromagnetic waves. With the vigorous development of nanotechnology, the design of high-performance electromagnetic wave absorbing materials has not only relied on the intrinsic properties of single-component media, but also paid more attention to the synergistic effect of different components, which results in rich loss mechanisms. Among various candidate materials, carbides are usually characterized by chemical stability, low density, tunable dielectric properties, and diverse morphologies/microstructures, so exploring and designing carbide-based composites would be a feasible way to obtain new electromagnetic wave absorbing materials with good prospects for practical applications. In this review, we will introduce the electromagnetic loss mechanisms associated with dielectric composites, and then focus on recent advances in carbide-based composites as high-performance electromagnetic wave absorbing materials, including covalent carbides, interstitial carbides, and MXene-based carbides, as well as a number of uncommon carbide-based composites and multicomponent composites. Key information on composition optimization, structural engineering, performance enhancement and structure-function relationships are discussed in detail. In addition, some challenges and prospects for the development of carbide-based composites are presented after comparing the properties of some representative composites.