Carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) are increasingly being used in aerospace structures due to high specific stiffness and good corrosion resistance. Drilling holes for the mechanical fastening of CFRP assemblies is one of the final stages of manufacture and any errors may result in the rejection of the entire assembly. Hole quality and the rate of tool wear are the two most critical interrelated objectives for CFRP drilling processes. Substantial efforts have been made to research hole generation techniques and the ability to establish high quality holes has been achieved, albeit a difficult task. Conversely, the phenomenon of tool wear and its detrimental effect on hole quality, has not had close to the same coverage in literature. Consequently, this paper presents an in depth critique of tool wear mechanisms and tool wear modelling for CFRP drilling.