Abstract: In the field of industrial lubrication, water-soluble lubricant additives determine the performance of aqueous system. Recently, some novel water-soluble lubricant additives exhibit excellent properties and broad application prospects due to their particular structures and compositions. Herein, basing on the tribology properties and lubrication mechanism, we reviewed the domestic and foreign research progress on the nanoparticles, nitrogen heterocyclic compounds, high polymer and ionic liquids, which were served as novel water-soluble lubricant additives. Moreover, the problems in the current research were analyzed and development tendency was prospected.