With the rapid development of industry, the negative impact of the use of fossil fuels on the ecological environment is becoming more and more prominent. Among them, CO2, as the main greenhouse gas, causes serious harm to global climate change. The selective hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol is one of the important ways to solve the greenhouse effect, develop green energy and realize sustainable economic development. Copper⁃based catalysts are widely employed for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol due to their excellent catalytic performance and low cost. The difference in reaction mechanism is due to the highly adjustable chemical and electronic properties of copper⁃based catalysts, resulting in the different catalytic performance. This article reviewed the representative reaction mechanism of selective hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol over copper⁃based catalysts was presented, aiming to provided a theoretical guidance for the design of efficient and stable copper⁃based catalysts.