Carbon-based nanoparticles have gained much interest as lubricant additive due to their remarkable properties in mechanical, chemical and electrical field. In this research, graphene nanosheets (GN), carbon nanotubes (CNT), and graphene oxide (GO) were used as lubricant additives to investigate their effect on tribological properties. Friction coefficient and wear scar diameter were studied as parameters to determine the effectiveness of lubricant. In this study, vegetable oil (VO) was used as base fluid lubricant. GN, CNT and GO were added at 50ppm and 100ppm respectively to VO to study their optimum concentration when compared to pure VO. All nanoparticles were well dispersed by using a homogenizer. Results showed that addition of 50ppm GN has the most positive effect in improving the tribological properties of vegetable oil. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.