To understand the research overview, knowledge structure, knowledge diffusion path and active subareas in the intuitionistic fuzzy field comprehensively, this paper adopts the main path analysis to study the related literature included in the CNKI database with the science mapping tools. The research results show that the intuitionistic fuzzy field has entered the mature stage, and the papers published in 2007 and 2014 have been widely recognized; based on the knowledge structure of this domain, this paper finds that the studies about intuitionistic fuzzy sets, intuitionistic trapezoidal fuzzy numbers and interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets lay a solid theoretical foundation for the development of this field; the path of knowledge diffusion shows that the research focus has shifted from theoretical research to applied research, especially the application of multi-attribute decision making, and it has begun to be widely integrated with other decision-making theories, management theories and computer algorithms recently; active research subareas mainly revolves around information integration, intuitionistic fuzzy inference, bilateral matching, Choquet integral and intuitionistic normal fuzzy number. This study is beneficial for researchers to dig out the knowledge structure of this field, grasp the development process of this field and identify the latest research trends effectively.