Based on literature data from CSSCI from 2013 to 2023 and using CNKI and CiteSpace software, this study conducts a visual analysis of literature on the topic of “elderly care services” concerning time series, authors and institutions, journal sources and citations, disciplinary distribution, keyword co-occurrence, keyword clustering, and keyword mutations. The research status indicates that studies on “elderly care services” have experienced phases of rapid growth and steady development. Collaboration among authors is relatively limited, and the field is a multidisciplinary academic complex primarily centered on political science, encompassing economics, sociology, management science, and other disciplines. The research hotspots mainly focus on six aspects: elderly care service systems, elderly care service models, supply and demand of elderly care services, influencing factors of elderly care services, elderly care service industry, and elderly care policies. Future research is expected to emphasize areas such as smart elderly care, mutual-aid elderly care, time banks, rural elderly care, rural revitalization, artificial intelligence, and healthy elderly care. Attention should be paid to the improvement and deepening of research methods, theoretical frameworks, application of disciplines, research outcomes, practical application of findings, and the cultivation of talent.