In most parts of the world where commercial citrus culture is practiced, petroleum and vegetable oils are used to control insect pests such as homopteran pests including scale insects and aphids, Lepidoptera, and mites when natural enemies are ineffective. In this review, we show some aspects regarding the use of oil sprays on citrus around the world and their potential in controlling different pests. Some oils offer advantages over broad spectrum pesticides: They may be handled without protective clothing; they have low toxicity to vertebrate animals; they have reduced detrimental effects on beneficial insects, and mites, and arthropod pests have not develop resistance to petroleum oil. Certainly, oils are an essential component of an integrated pest management program for citrus in concert with the use of natural enemies. The ability to mix insecticides, miticides, fungicides and/or nutritional compounds with petroleum spray oils will allow spray application costs to be reduced.