Materials are the foundation and guarantee for the development of oil and gas reservoirs. Actively drawing on the latest progress in material science，improving the economic benefits of oil and gas resources development，and reducing the pressure on environmental protection are the inevitable requirements and the only way for the development of petroleum engineering. As a high-performance biopolymer material，the nano-cellulosic（NC）material has the advantages of low cost，wide sources，no pollution，and renewable，as well as physical properties such as high strength，low density，strong toughness，and easy modification. It is widely used in the fields of biomedicine，food packaging and photoelectric materials. The latest researches show that the NC material also has broad application prospects in the development of oil and gas reservoirs，and has gradually attracted the attention of Chinese and foreign scholars. The research progress of NC in drilling，fracturing and EOR in recent years has been summarized in detail，and the technical issues and solutions encountered in practical applications have been analyzed in depth. Based on the recent research on NC dispersions，NC high-stability foams，NC emulsions and NC hydrogels，the application potential and development direction of NC materials in oil and gas field development are prospected in the future.