MySQL uses numeric, date/time, and string data types. Numeric types include INT, TINYINT, SMALLINT, MEDIUMINT, BIGINT, FLOAT, DOUBLE, and DECIMAL. Date/time types include DATE, DATETIME, TIMESTAMP, TIME, and YEAR. String types include CHAR, VARCHAR, BLOB/TEXT, TINYBLOB/TINYTEXT, MEDIUMBLOB/MEDIUMTEXT, LONGBLOB/LONGTEXT, and ENUM. Each type has specific size and value ranges for storing different types of data.