Nanoparticles are seen as potential advanced materials to overcome the challenges，such as low sweep efficiency， associated with these traditional enhanced oil recovery（EOR）techniques. It sorted the application of nanoparticles augmented chemical EOR，gas EOR，and thermal EOR techniques in recent years，introduced the main principles，characteristics and research results of nanoparticles augmented EOR process，and indicated the EOR challenges and trend using nanoparticles.