Rare earth permanent magnets are crucial for the miniaturization, lightweight design, and efficiency improvement of modern technologies due to their excellent magnetic properties. They have become strategic materials vital to national energy security and technological competitiveness because of their concentrated supply chain and high technical barriers. Rare earth permanent magnets are broadly classified into two categories: NdFeB and SmCo. The NdFeB magnets, with a theoretical maximum energy product of 64.3 MGOe, are widely used in consumer electronics, new energy vehicle, industrial servo motors, household appliances and medical equipment. However, their relatively low Curie temperature (about 586 K) restricts the long-term operating temperature to below 423 K, thereby limiting the application in high-temperature environments. In contrast, SmCo₅ and Sm₂Co₁₇ magnets are widely applied in high-temperature and high-reliability applications, owing to their high Curie temperatures and low coercivity temperature coefficients. Meanwhile, SmFe₁₂ and Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃ magnets exhibit high saturation magnetization, high anisotropy field, and relatively low rare earth content, thereby making them promising candidates for the next generation of high-performance, low-cost permanent magnets. Herein, we systematically review the research progress of Sm-Co-based and Sm-Fe-based permanent magnets, with a focus on analyzing the current development status of SmCo₅-type, Sm₂Co₁₇-type, SmFe₁₂-type and Sm₂Fe₁₇N₃-type permanent magnets, and the future development directions for Sm-based rare earth permanent magnets are discussed and outlooked.