 The triboelectric nanogenerator, TENG, is a new type of energy conversion technology which uses mechanical energy to generate electricity. It was invented in 2012 and since then it has seen rapid advancements in material synthesis, architecture design, performance optimization, power management and application exploration. The use of polymer materials, PMs, in TENGs is a unique approach compared to other energy harvesting techniques such as organic solar cells and organic light emitting diodes. This paper summarizes the current state of the art in PMs used in TENGs and discusses their potential applications. This article was authored by Ai Hua Chen, Qin Zheng, Guan Zhu and others.