Abstract: Memristor has natural similarity with biological synapse. Building neural network by memristor artificial synaptic devices is one of the promising schemes to realize high-performance computing. This paper introduces the resistive switching mechanisms of memristor, and focuses on the memristor materials and their recent research status. Finally, from the perspective of application, research progresses of artificial synaptic devices constructed by memristors are reviewed, and the main challenges faced by the development of memristors are briefly discussed.