As the basic structural unit of graphite, graphene is a unique two-dimensional nanostructure composed of sp2 hybridized orbitals of carbon atoms in hexagonal honeycomb crystal. It has become the focus of tribology research at home and abroad in recent years due to its excellent mechanical and lubricating properties. Graphene not only has achieved the superlubricity at nanometre-scale and micrometer-scale contacts, but also shows extraordinary tribological properties at macroscopic contacts. The influencing factors of graphene tribological properties at micro-contact and macro-contact states were introduced in detail. At micro-contact state, the sliding occurred on the perfect and smooth crystal surface and the contact force and contact area were small, so the tribology performance of graphene was mainly subject to structural deformation, surface cleanliness including defects, atmosphere and chemical functional groups and commensurate/incommensurate structure. At macro-contact state, contact force and contact area were large, so tribological properties were influenced by many factors. In addition to the influencing factors at micro-contact states, the anisotropy of the material, the grain boundary and the destruction of macroscopic forces were also involved and the graphene was also affected by edge bonds, friction-induced dangling bonds exposed and ordered lamellar structure on the sliding interface. On this basis, the necessary conditions and lubricating mechanism of graphene to obtain ultra-low friction at different scales were further analyzed, and the future development direction and problems to be solved in tribological research of graphene were prospected.