As a category of critical raw materials (CRMs), lithium is an indispensable strategic metal during the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) based power batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Consequently, the demand for lithium has dramatically increased during the last decade along with the rapid development of EVs and HEVs in China. However, the reserves of primary lithium resources such as lithium ores in China are scarce, and their corresponding external dependence is higher than 70%. As a result, the primary lithium resources can hardly satisfy the ever-increasing market demand, and the contradiction between supply and demand in becoming more and more obvious. Therefore, recovery of lithium from the spent LIBs in an efficient and environment-friendly manner will become a vital supplement for primary lithium resources in the future, which is also very important for avoiding the secondary pollution risk to the ecological environment and human health. The hydrometallurgical processes are characterized as higher recycling efficiency, higher purity of the obtained product and lower energy consumption. In this work, the recent progress of lithium extraction from spent LIBs mainly based on hydrometallurgical processes was reviewed. In the process of pretreatment, leaching, separation and purification of lithium, the main methods and their corresponding advantages and disadvantages were emphasized. Finally, some suggestions were put forward, such as further strengthening the research and development on related technologies and processes of selective extraction of lithium, and cleaner utilization of full components of the spent LIBs. In addition, the development tendency of recycling processes for the spent LIBs was prospected, which can provide research directions and alternative solutions for the spent LIBs recycling in the academic, industrial and administrative sectors.