In recent years, researchers have prepared a series of nickel-based self-lubricating coatings using thermal spraying technology. The coatings have been extensively investigated and some useful results have been achieved. So that the nickel-based self-lubricating coatings as friction and wear-resistant materials are widely sprayed on the surface of mechanical movement. This paper broadly covers three aspects of nickel-based self-lubricating coatings:composition design, preparation process and coating microstructure control. In each aspect, the latest research progress in preparation of nickel-based self-lubricating coatings by thermal spraying was systematically summarized, and finally the future research directions were discussed. Firstly, the composition elements of nickel-based self-lubricating coatings were elaborated from three parts, including the base phase, the lubricating phase and the reinforced phase of the coating, and each of the components was appropriately summarized. In addition, the commonly used modes of coating component design were focused and analyzed with a perspective to provide reference for the component design of new nickel-based self-lubricating coatings in the future. Secondly, in view of the process specificity of the thermal spraying technology, the latest research progress of thermal spraying feed composite powder preparation was highlighted, and the preparation methods of various feed powders were summarized. Thirdly, for the problem of coating defects caused by thermal spraying preparation of coatings, the latest progress in exploring the effects of coating microstructure control, coating pretreatment and post-treatment on the performance of self-lubricating coatings was elaborated. Characteristics of different thermal spraying technologies were summarized, and the use of different pretreatment and post-treatment methods was analyzed. At the end of this paper, the problems existing in the research of nickel-based self-lubricating coatings were summarized according to the above research status, and it was further pointed out that optimization of the process technology and the use of numerical simulation combined with experimental testing to study the lubrication and friction mechanism inside the coating in depth would be an important direction for future research.