Thin film lubrication (TFL) has been well studied as a new lubrication regime since the 90s of last century. TFL is a transition lubrication regime between elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) and boundary lubrication (BL), which has specific lubrication features. The present paper reviewed the advancement of researches of TFL, which involves the origin of the TFL concept, advancement of measuring technique, TFL's film-forming features, investigation on its mechanism, and computation theories.