Layered tin sulfides have attracted great interest as high-capacity anode materials in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and Na-ion batteries (NIBs). In this review, we focus on the recent research progress in the area of design and synthesis of tin sulfide and selenide (SnS, SnS₂, SnSe, and SnSe₂) based anode materials for LIBs and NIBs. After a brief introduction of the energy concerns and the development prospects of LIBs and NIBs, we further detailed the properties and advantages of tin sulfide and selenide based anode materials for LIBs and NIBs. Besides the material structure design and optimization, the underlying mechanism and theoretical analysis for improved electrochemical performance are also presented. Additionally, comparison of tin sulfides and selenides is also provided. Innovative strategies that have demonstrated the effectiveness of enhancing the performance of tin sulfide and selenide based anode materials for LIBs and NIBs are summarized. We hope that this timely review can shed light on the research and development of tin sulfides and selenides as high-performance anode materials which are not only a good supplement to the material pool of commercialized LIBs, but also help facilitate the development of low-cost and sustainable NIBs for stationary energy storage in the future.