<p>Cementing is a key link in oil exploitation, and its operation quality directly affects the sealing performance and long-term service stability of oil wells. Under the influence of downhole pressure fluctuation, complex geological conditions and brittleness of cement paste, microcracks are easy to occur in cement sheath. The incorporation of self-healing materials is the key technology to solve the cracking of cement sheath. This paper reviews the research progress of cement paste self-healing in recent years, focusing on the analysis of a variety of self-healing materials suitable for oil well cement paste, including coated and uncoated chemical reaction materials, water swelling materials and oil and gas swelling materials, and discusses the self-healing technology suitable for gas storage well conditions. This paper summarizes the repair effect and application potential of various materials in oil well cement paste and summarizes the improvement methods of coated and expanded materials in mechanical properties and repair efficiency. Studies have shown that expansive self-healing materials have rapid response and efficient repair characteristics and are widely used in oil wells, especially gas storage wells. In view of the problems of insufficient chemical stability and mechanical properties of self-healing materials in the application of oil and gas wells, this paper makes a comparative analysis of four types of self-healing materials suitable for oil and gas wells in terms of material composition, self-healing conditions, applicable crack width and repair effect. It is pointed out that the temperature resistance, alkali resistance and mechanical properties of the materials can be effectively optimized by introducing nanoreinforced phases and using capsule encapsulation. Through the comprehensive analysis of the mechanism evaluation, material application conditions and modification research of cement paste self-healing, this paper summarizes and prospects the improvement methods of self-healing materials and looks forward to the future that the strength of materials can be improved by organic–inorganic composite technology, and a multi-component collaborative repair system can be constructed to speed up the repair rate and enhance the repair effect. This paper summarizes the future challenges and development directions of self-healing materials for oil and gas wells, provides reference for cementing engineering researchers, and fills the gaps in the review of the performance improvement of self-healing materials for oil and gas wells and their potential applications in high-temperature and high-salt reservoir environments.</p>