As one of the selfamputation behaviors, tail autotomy is an extreme and effective anti-predation strategy in many lizards. Tail autotomy takes place at preformed areas of weakness in the tail and there are two patterns of tail autotomy including intervertebral autotomy and intravertebral autotomy, and the latter is the main one. The lizards repair the tail through a regeneration mechanism after tail loss, so tail autotomy and regeneration of lizards have always occupied one of the central positions in studies of biology and ecology. Here, we summarize the research advances in tail autotomy and regeneration of lizards, paying particular attention to lizard species for which the studies on tail automoty and regeneration are available in China, influencing factors and costs of tail autotomy, and some studies of regeneration after tail autotomy. Efforts are made to point out the priority in further studies on tail autotomy and regeneration of lizards.