Glycerol monolaurate (GML), a naturally occurring medium-chain monoglyceride, has attracted increasingly interest due to its special antivirus ability and potential benefits on gut health. This review focuses on animal research to explore how GML supplementation impacts intestinal morphology, gut microbiota composition, and immune function. Studies show that GML could enhance the structure of the villus, which may in turn lead to better nutrient absorption. GML has been shown to resemble properties of prebiotics due to its ability to regulate microbial diversity of the intestines for favorable microbiota such as Barnesiella or Bacteroides and to enhance production of short chain fatty acids. The results have shown that GML exhibits anti-inflammatory activities through its capacity to lower pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, increase anti-inflammatory cytokines like IL-10 and TGF-β1, and enhance expressions of tight junction proteins.