Owing to its excellent shape memory effect, nitinol is a smart material that has been widely used in fields such as aerospace, medicine, and electronics. Nitinol components with complex shapes and desirable properties can be produced by selective laser melting, which overcomes the limitations of traditional manufacturing. Selective laser melting enables the shapes, properties, and functionalities of the components to achieve controllable changes in time and space dimensions, which is one of the popular research topics in “4D printing”. In this study, the research progress and technology status of nitinol formed by selective laser melting are briefly reviewed. Various influence factors on the transformation temperatures, shape memory effect, and superelasticity of nitinol are investigated, in which the influence factors are related to forming process, heat treatments, etc. Moreover, the suitable process parameters of nitinol formed by selective laser melting are summarized. Finally, a prospect for future development of deposition of nitinol by selective laser melting is presented. This study provides a reference for “4D printing” of nitinol formed by selective laser melting.