As a green and efficient sorbent, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) with aromatic tri-s-triazine units has shown great potential for the enrichment or removal of metal ions and organic aromatic compounds, which makes it a promising candidate to complement graphenes in analytical chemistry. The in-built N-rich functional groups and electronic delocalization properties endow g-C₃N₄ with complex sorption mechanism, containing complexion, hydrogen bond, redox reaction, π – π conjugation, hydrophobic effect, acid-base reaction and electrostatic interaction. The structure and surface physicochemical properties related to the sorption behavior are mainly depended on the preparation and sorption conditions, such as polymerization temperature, polymerization precursors, the solution pH and ionic strength. As a new sorbent, g-C₃N₄ has been applied to the sample pretreatment in analytical chemistry with solid-phase extraction (SPE), magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE), and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) modes, recently. At the same time, a series of modification methods and technologies have been exploited to modify the structural and surface physicochemical properties of g-C₃N₄, facilitating more effective and selective sorption process. To raise awareness of the superior properties of g-C₃N₄ and facilitate its applications as a sorbent in analytical chemistry, the sorption properties (sorption mechanism, influence factors of sorption behavior), applications to the sample pretreatment and structural modifications of g-C₃N₄ are reviewed.