In this paper, different mechanisms of self-healing, i.e. self-healing based on adhesive agents, self-healing based on bacteria, self-healing based on autogenous self-healing were described. Their required conditions were summarized. The previous investigations showed that all mechanisms of self-healing are effective to some extend under particular conditions. In this paper, concrete structures were categorized according to serving conditions. Potential self-healing mechanisms are pointed out according to the required conditions of each self-healing mechanism.