Graphene based self-healing materials have enhanced mechanical property, electrical and thermal conductivity, responsiveness to external stimuli, healing efficiency, and energy conversion efficiency, compared with conventional materials. In specific materials and practical applications, graphene is accompanied by two forms: one form is graphene [7,63] obtained from modified arc-discharge method and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, and another form is graphene derivatives including graphene oxide (GO) [44], reduced graphene oxide (RGO) [50], reduced functionalized graphene oxide (RFGO) [58], and others [57,64]. Nevertheless, graphene as a filler or compound material has three coexistence styles with polymers in graphene based self-healing materials (Fig. 1). Namely, (a) graphene based self-healing materials [7,38,46,56,63,[65], [66], [67]], (b) graphene derivative based self-healing materials [4,5,10,[34], [35], [36], [37],[39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45],47,48,[50], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55],57,[59], [60], [61], [62],64,[68], [69], [70], [71], [72], [73], [74], [75], [76], [77], [78], [79], [80]], and (c) polymer/graphene crosslinked based self-healing materials [6,8,58,[81], [82], [83]]. Besides, we know that graphene and its derivatives are not isolated in the matrix according to the previous literature. There are three ways that graphene and its derivatives exist in the matrix: (a) the combination between graphene and matrix is through intermolecular force, (b) the binding of graphene derivatives and matrix is by hydrogen bonds, host-guest interactions, and electric interactions, and (c) polymer/graphene crosslinked by means of reversible chemical bonds (e.g. Diels-Alder bond, ionic bond). Consequentially, due to the introduction of graphene, the self-healing materials with enhanced mechanical properties, electrical and thermal conductivity, and energy absorption and conversion efficiency, especially healing performance have been achieved. Then, we will discuss the research progress of graphene based self-healing materials in detail from the aspects of synthesis methods, self-healing pathways and applications.