Cellulose nanofiber (CNF) has attracted increasing attention in the field of tribology, but poor lipophilicity limits its applications in oil-based lubricants. Herein, CNF was surface modified with octylboronic acid by an improved esterification method. The resulting products (CNF O) were characterized systematically. CNF O prepared at 70℃ for 4   h (CNF O/70/4) was further used as a thickener and nanoadditive in oleic acid, and thus a novel oleogel was prepared at CNF O/70/4 concentration no less than 12   wt%. The rheological behaviours of this oleogel were measured, and its tribological behaviors were evaluated to determine the impacts of some specific factors, including applied load, rotational speed and sliding time. The resulting wear surfaces and the wear residues were analyzed and thus the lubrication mechanism for CNF O/70/4 oleogel was discussed. It was found that CNF O retained high similarity to CNF in terms of crystallinity, size, and morphology, and CNF O/70/4 had the highest substitution degree of 0.23. In addition, CNF O/70/4 oleogel showed a reversible shear-thinning behavior with strong recoverability, and it largely reduced the friction coefficient to 0.019 and the wear volume to 8.17 × 10 -3 mm 3 as compared to oleic acid or CNF oleogel. The superior tribological performances of CNF O/70/4 oleogel were attributable to CNF O/70/4’s strong adsorption onto metal contact interface and the subsequent tribochemical reactions. This work provides a new strategy for modifying CNF and further expands its use for lubrication.