Wear failure is one of the most common consumption patterns during industrial production and material life. Using thermal spray technology to improve friction and wear properties of friction pair surface has attracted increasing attention. As an important surface technology, thermal spray has good application in the area of corrosion, wear, etc. NiCrBSi is a kind of Ni-based self-fluxing alloy in which Ni and Cr are main components. In recent years, researches on NiCrBSi based coatings have made important progress in preparation, characterization and application. The first part of this article gave a detailed investigation of state of the art of Ni-based alloys, mainly discussed the research status on pure NiCrBSi coatings, self-lubricating properties of NiCrBSi-Mo coatings, hard phase enhancement of NiCrBSi-carbide coatings, comprehensive performances of NiCrBSi-oxide coatings. The second part presented the principles, characteristics and applications of flame, laser, furnace, inducting remelted NiCrBSi coatings. In this part, the effect of post-treatment on coating microstructure and wear performance was also taken into account. Meanwhile the effects of adding component and remelting processes on coating structure, mechanical properties and wear resistance performance were compared in order to clarify the wear mechanism. Finally, the main problems existing in NiCrBSi based wear-resistant coatings were summarized. Three suggestions from the viewpoints of materials, process and post-treatment were prospected.