High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) has been identified as a key factor in the development of cervical cancer. Integration of viral DNA into the host genome has been postulated as an important etiological event during cervical carcinogenesis. High-risk HPV DNA integration frequently results in either the deletion or interruption of the large fragment of E1 and E2 region and the overexpression of oncogenes E6 and E7 in the viral genome, and the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of tumor suppressors in host genome. Recent studies have showed that hrHPV integration can be used as a predictive biomarker in high-quality cervical lesion screening. Most effective diagnostic approaches are based on fluorescence in situ hybridization, real-time quantitative PCR and Sanger sequencing of hybrid captured viral DNA. This review highlights the primary mechanisms of hrHPV DNA integration associated with cervical carcinogenesis, illustrates recent advances in predictive biomarkers in cervical lesion screening and the development and popularization of prophylactic HPV vaccines, and summarizes the various methods of detecting hrHPV DNA integration.