This research reviews journal articles published on the China Academic Journals Fulltext Database (CNKI) journals from 2000 to 2014 on the study and application of gels as a conservation material for cultural relics. Bibliometric methods were used to analyze the data in journal articles for different factors, such as publication year, authors, organizations, funds, etc. This paper focuses mainly on the current research status and application of traditional binding materials and modern polymer binding materials that have been applied to cultural relics, including adhesion, consolidation and protective(surface protection) materials. Meanwhile, a quantitative analysis was done on the major conservation materials, trying to find the key, hot points in the binding material research area and to discuss trends.