Living organisms possess the ability of self-healing for nonfatal harm, like regeneration of the cut skin and broken bone, guided by instinct.As a result, their injury tolerance is substantially enhanced, which ensures healthy growth and breeding from generation to generation.Inspired by the functionality of naturally occurring species, self-healing polymers have been prepared as a member of intelligent materials family.They are coupled with built-in capability of rehabilitating tiny damages produced during manufacturing and/or usage.In recent years, the authorslab systematically studied strength recovery of self-healing polymeric materials for structural application.By using knowledge of polymer chemistry, polymer physics,materials mechanics, etc., a series of extrinsic and intrinsic self-healing polymers and polymer composites were developed and characterized.The proposed strategies turn out to be feasible for typical thermosetting and thermoplastics.Accordingly, topics including synthesis techniques, formulation optimization, processing, structure and properties relationship, healing mechanisms, stability and durability were carefully investigated.The present report briefly reviews the works carried out by the authorsteam.Technical routes that correlate materials chemistry to full capacity restoration are discussed for further development from bioinspired toward biomimetic repair.