Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) have attracted extensive attention because of their high energy density, good safety performance and excellent cycling performance. At present, the main anode material is still graphite. In order to meet the increasing demand for energy storage applications, people improve the electrochemical performance of graphite electrode by various means, and actively sought for better materials to replace graphite electrode, including carbon nanotubes, MXenes and other insertion-type anode materials, metal oxides, halide represented by conversion anode materials, silicon as the representative of alloy anode materials. This paper introduces in detail the chemical reaction mechanism, advantages and disadvantages of graphite and other anode materials, and also describes the improvement methods.