Hydrogel is a three-dimensional cross-linked network capable of absorbing and retaining large amounts of water. Furthermore， it exhibits good biocompatibility and excellent chemical and physical properties. Therefore， hydrogels became a representative of soft materials. However， traditional hydrogels have shortcomings such as easy damage and short lifespan， which limit their development. Recently， self-healing hydrogels have been developed rapidly due to they can restore the damage without destroying their own functions， thereby prolongingtheir service life. In this review， the research status of self-healing hydrogels with different driving forces are reviewed. The self-healing hydrogels constructed by single driving forces and multiple driving forces， respectively. Among them， single driving forces include reversible non-covalent bonds and dynamic covalent bonds. Reversible non-covalent bonds encompass hydrogen bonds， hydrophobic interactions， metal coordination interactions， host-guest interactions and electrostatic interactions. Dynamic covalent bonds include imine bonds， boronic ester bonds and hydrazone bonds. The application of self-healing hydrogels in wound dressings， drug delivery， tissue engineering， sensors， and 3D printing are also discussed. Finally， some problems in the performance optimization of self-healing hydrogels（such as cumbersome experimental procedures， poor mechanical properties， poor antifreeze performance， and scientific issues related to mechanism research and clinical transformation）and their development are prospected.