Oilfield chemicals play a crucial role in drilling and completion, fracturing and acidizing, profile control and water plugging, emulsification and viscosity reduction, oil/water separation, etc. However, the harsh reservoir environment such as low permeability, high temperature, high salinity, extreme pH, and changes of temperature or pH has brought severe challenges to the research of polymers and surfactants. The traditional methods of adding groups to resist temperature and salinity, such as sulfonic acid groups, or increasing the relative molecular mass of oil displacement agents can no longer meet the oilfield needs. In this paper, the principles, properties, and potential applications of stimuli-responsive materials were introduced, which can respond to environmental changes, such as temperature-sensitive, pH-sensitive, magnetic-responsive, CO2-sensitive, and salinity-sensitive. Finally, the development prospect of stimuli-responsive materials in oil and gas production is summarized.