The fivemembered nitrogencontaining heterocyclic compound is an important kind of lubricant additives,which has excellent tribological properties.The recent researches in tribology of benzothiazole,benzimidazole,benzotriazole,thiadiazole and some other fivemembered Ncontaining heterocyclic lubricating addtives were reviewed.Their mechanisms and existent questions in the current study were analyzed,and it was pointed out that both basic and applied study should be equally concerned and the research of newtype,environmentfriendly fivemembered nitrogencontaining lubricating addtives should be actively carried out in the future.