This study presents a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) with graphene forest as electrode. Graphene forest was fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process, which shows great different morphology compared with other ‘wall-like’ vertically oriented graphene so far. Graphene forest films are composed of graphene nanoflakes, exhibiting not only low sheet resistance ((110±5) Ω/□) but also uniquely discrete ‘tree-like’ morphology, which are favorable to contact and friction with other materials. According to its morphology superiority, Kapton film and graphene forest film were utilized as electrodes for triboelectric nanogenerator, in which an open circuit voltage of 20 V and a short circuit current of 0.75 μA are obtained. Furthermore, the working principle of the graphene forest based triboelectric nanogenerator was discussed. At last, three LEDs of different color in demo circuit were lighted up by as-prepared nanogenerator, which proves the effective application of graphene forest in triboelectric nanogenerator.