Ultrafast pulse laser has been widely used in many fields, such as optical communications, military and materials processing. Semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) serving as a saturable absorber is an effective way to obtain ultrafast pulse laser with ps-level pulse width. The SESAM needs specially designing to meet different wavelength operations. And the low damage threshold and high fabrication cost of SESAM hinder its development. Exploring novel materials is becoming a hot topic to overcome these drawbacks and obtain ultrafast laser with excellent performance. The discovery of graphene opens the door for two-dimensional nanomaterials due to the unique photoelectric properties of layered materials. Subsequently, two-dimensional (2D) materials such as topological insulators, transition metal sulfides, and black phosphorus are reported. These materials are used as saturable absorber to obtain a pulsed laser. In this paper, we summarize the research status of fiber lasers and solid-state lasers based on 2D materials in recent years. The development status of the lasers in terms of central wavelength, pulse width, repetition frequency, pulse energy and output power are discussed. Finally, the summary and outlook are given. We believe that nonlinear optical devices based on 2D materials will be rapidly developed in the future several decades