CO2 photoreduction is a negative carbon emission technology. The efficiency of CO2 photoreduction using sunlight is relatively low. Photo-thermal synergistic catalytic reduction of CO2 has been the research hotspot in recent years. However, the concept of photothermal catalysis has different understandings. One view is that photothermal catalysis is referring to using the surface plasmon resonance thermal effect of the catalyst to generate hot electrons to promote CO2 reduction. Another view is that photothermal catalysis is referring to promoting the CO2 photoreduction by increasing the reaction temperature using light and heat as the driving force. In order to further analyze the concept of photothermal catalysis, the recent papers were summarized and analyzed from the following three different angles: photothermal catalysis based on surface plasma effect, photothermal catalytic reduction of CO2 using light and heat as the driving force, and photothermal catalytic reduction of CO2 with process intensification.