Abstract: A brief overview is given on the 21st International Conference on Wear of Materials. The latest developments in researches fields such as sliding wear, abrasive wear, erosion, lubrication, wear modeling and simulation, bio-tribology and wear of polymer and polymer matrix composites are reviewed. Based on the summary of the presentations, some promising future research directions are suggested: in terms of bio-tribology, the tribological properties of the tissues and organs associated with human diseases should be investigated; in the aspect of traditional tribology research, analysis, induction and summary on the tribological mechanisms are more needed than reproducing and summarizing the tribology phenomenon; due to the capability of the tribological models to reveal the deep friction and wear mechanisms and to guide the practical applications, the tribological models are worth developing.