With the increasing energy demands for electronic devices and electrical vehicles, anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with high specific capacity, good cyclic and rate performance become one of the focal areas of research. A class of them is the copper-based nanomaterials that have thermal and chemical stability, high theoretical specific capacity, low price and environment friendliness. Now this kind of nanomaterials has been recognized as one of the critical materials for lithium-ion batteries due to the predicted future market growth. Current status of different copper-based materials which produced already are discussed. In this review, comprehensive summaries and evaluations are given in synthesis strategies, tailored material properties and different electrochemical performance. Recent progress of general copper-based nanomaterials for lithium-ion batteries is carefully presented.