Chemical wax inhibitors are widely used in the field of waxy crude oil extraction and transportation, providing an important guarantee for the safe and efficient operation of the waxy crude oil extraction and transportation process. At present, many basic experimental studies and numerical simulation studies on chemical wax removal have been carried out to explore the types, mechanism of action and application scope of chemical wax inhibitors. Common chemical wax inhibitors mainly include fused?ring aromatic hydrocarbon type wax inhibitors, surfactant type wax inhibitors, high molecular polymer pour point depressant type wax inhibitors and new nano?particle wax inhibitors. They usually prevent the association and deposition of wax crystals by water film theory or wax crystal modification theory. Among them, fused?ring aromatic hydrocarbon wax inhibitors, surfactant wax inhibitors, and polymer pour point depressant wax inhibitors have disadvantages such as poor environmental friendliness, poor environmental adaptability or poor economy. The focus of future research should be to explore green, efficient and general?purpose chemical paraffin inhibitors, use nanoparticles to improve the performance of paraffin inhibitors, and continue to explore more environmentally friendly chemical paraffin inhibitors.