Abstract: With the development of nano technology, micro-nano lubricating materials have been widely used in lubricant. Micro-nano lubricant materials in lubricant were classified in this paper and the tribological properties of different kinds of micro-nano lubricating materials were evaluated by analyzing the changes in load-bearing capacity of lubricant and compensation of wear of conjugate surface, and characteristics of micro-nano lubricating materials in lubricant were summarized. Based on micro-nano lubricating materials’ physical and chemical properties, the major friction reduction, antiwear and self-repairing mechanisms were extracted, which were smooth or super-smooth surface rolling friction mechanism, film deposition mechanism and embedded penetration layer / friction chemical reaction film mechanism. Finally, the existing problems of the micro-nano lubricating material used in lubricant and some recommendations on the study in future development were extracted.