In recent years, Nature-based solutions (NBSs) have been a focus of applied ecological research. The concept of NBSs comprehensively considers the economic, environmental and societal benefits, as well as to introduce ecosystem services to repair, restore, and promote the urban ecological infrastructure, so as to address the sustainable development challenges faced by cities. More importantly, the NBSs approach provides a new vision, technical methods, and fresh perspective on ecological design. This study analyzes the key words, major research countries, universities, and institutions synthetically by the VOSviewer software, and maps the global distribution of case studies of NBSs through a comprehensive literature review. The results showed that:1) the number of articles related to NBSs in cities increased significantly from 2015 to 2018, and the case study areas covered six continents (Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Oceania, and Africa), while most of the cases were a summary of methods or practices that can be summarized as NBSs in existing projects; 2) research hotspots (from high to low) related to NBSs in cities mainly involved ecosystem service, green infrastructure, climate change, human health and well-being; and 3) at present, most NBSs research occurs in Europe, while China is still in the initial stage. The study presented in this paper was conducted to promote the research and practice of NBSs in China, with additional benefits to provide a fresh vision and theoretical basis for city ecological design and sustainable development.