With the increasing energy demands for electronic devices and electrical vehicles, anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with high specific capacity, good cyclic and rate performances become one of the focal areas of research. Among the various anode materials, SnO2/graphene nanocomposites have drawn extensive attentions due to their high theoretical specific capacities, low charge potential vs. Li/Li+ and environmental benignity. In this review, the advances, including the synthetic methods and structural optimizations, of the SnO2/graphene nanocomposites as anode materials for LIBs have been reviewed in detail. By providing an in-depth discussion of SnO2/graphene nanocomposites, we aim to demonstrate that the electrochemical performances of SnO2/graphene nanocomposites could be significantly enhanced by rational modifications of morphology and crystal structures, chemical compositions and surface features. Though only focusing on SnO2/graphene-based composites, the concepts and strategies should be referential to other metal oxide/graphene composites.