Graph-based Approaches and Functionalities in Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Comprehensive Survey

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Zhu, Zulun, Huang, Tiancheng, Wang, Kai, Ye, Junda, Chen, Xinghe, Luo, Siqiang
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Zhu, Zulun
Huang, Tiancheng
Wang, Kai
Ye, Junda
Chen, Xinghe
Luo, Siqiang
author_facet Zhu, Zulun
Huang, Tiancheng
Wang, Kai
Ye, Junda
Chen, Xinghe
Luo, Siqiang
contents Large language models (LLMs) struggle with the factual error during inference due to the lack of sufficient training data and the most updated knowledge, leading to the hallucination problem. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has gained attention as a promising solution to address the limitation of LLMs, by retrieving relevant information from external source to generate more accurate answers to the questions. Given the pervasive presence of structured knowledge in the external source, considerable strides in RAG have been made to employ the techniques related to graphs and achieve more complex reasoning based on the topological information between knowledge entities. However, there is currently neither unified review examining the diverse roles of graphs in RAG, nor a comprehensive resource to help researchers navigate and contribute to this evolving field. This survey offers a novel perspective on the functionality of graphs within RAG and their impact on enhancing performance across a wide range of graph-structured data. It provides a detailed breakdown of the roles that graphs play in RAG, covering database construction, algorithms, pipelines, and tasks. Finally, it identifies current challenges and outline future research directions, aiming to inspire further developments in this field. Our graph-centered analysis highlights the commonalities and differences in existing methods, setting the stage for future researchers in areas such as graph learning, database systems, and natural language processing.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_10499
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Graph-based Approaches and Functionalities in Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Comprehensive Survey
Zhu, Zulun
Huang, Tiancheng
Wang, Kai
Ye, Junda
Chen, Xinghe
Luo, Siqiang
Information Retrieval
Computation and Language
Information storage and retrieval of data, Natural language processing
H.3.3; I.2.7
Large language models (LLMs) struggle with the factual error during inference due to the lack of sufficient training data and the most updated knowledge, leading to the hallucination problem. Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has gained attention as a promising solution to address the limitation of LLMs, by retrieving relevant information from external source to generate more accurate answers to the questions. Given the pervasive presence of structured knowledge in the external source, considerable strides in RAG have been made to employ the techniques related to graphs and achieve more complex reasoning based on the topological information between knowledge entities. However, there is currently neither unified review examining the diverse roles of graphs in RAG, nor a comprehensive resource to help researchers navigate and contribute to this evolving field. This survey offers a novel perspective on the functionality of graphs within RAG and their impact on enhancing performance across a wide range of graph-structured data. It provides a detailed breakdown of the roles that graphs play in RAG, covering database construction, algorithms, pipelines, and tasks. Finally, it identifies current challenges and outline future research directions, aiming to inspire further developments in this field. Our graph-centered analysis highlights the commonalities and differences in existing methods, setting the stage for future researchers in areas such as graph learning, database systems, and natural language processing.
title Graph-based Approaches and Functionalities in Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Comprehensive Survey
topic Information Retrieval
Computation and Language
Information storage and retrieval of data, Natural language processing
H.3.3; I.2.7
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.10499