# Towards Trustworthy Retrieval Augmented Generation for Large Language Models: A Survey

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.06872 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.06872/

## Key facts

- Cited by 30 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in RAG pipeline design and evaluation, one of 15 directions in Retrieval-augmented generation.
- Builds on 118 of its 185 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Feb 2025.

## Placed in

- Retrieval-augmented generation / [RAG pipeline design and evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/rag/rag-pipeline-design-and-evaluation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 118)

- [Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.10084/) (2019)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03374/) (2021)
- ["Why Should I Trust You?": Explaining the Predictions of Any Classifier](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.04938/) (2016)
- [Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11366/) (2023)
- [SQuAD: 100,000+ Questions for Machine Comprehension of Text](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.05250/) (2016)
- [Equality of Opportunity in Supervised Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02413/) (2016)
- [Self-RAG: Learning to Retrieve, Generate, and Critique through Self-Reflection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.11511/) (2023)
- [Large Language Models Encode Clinical Knowledge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.13138/) (2022)
- [Jailbroken: How Does LLM Safety Training Fail?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.02483/) (2023)
- [MS MARCO: A Human Generated MAchine Reading COmprehension Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.09268/) (2016)
- [Not what you've signed up for: Compromising Real-World LLM-Integrated Applications with Indirect Prompt Injection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.12173/) (2023)
- [Llama Guard: LLM-based Input-Output Safeguard for Human-AI Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.06674/) (2023)
- [Can LLMs Express Their Uncertainty? An Empirical Evaluation of Confidence Elicitation in LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.13063/) (2023)
- [BBQ: A Hand-Built Bias Benchmark for Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.08193/) (2021)
- [JailbreakBench: An Open Robustness Benchmark for Jailbreaking Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.01318/) (2024)
- [DecodingTrust: A Comprehensive Assessment of Trustworthiness in GPT Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.11698/) (2023)
- [A Survey on RAG Meeting LLMs: Towards Retrieval-Augmented Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.06211/) (2024)
- [LaMP: When Large Language Models Meet Personalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.11406/) (2023)
- [The Web as a Knowledge-base for Answering Complex Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1803.06643/) (2018)
- [Trustworthy LLMs: a Survey and Guideline for Evaluating Large Language Models' Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05374/) (2023)
- [Large Language Models for Software Engineering: A Systematic Literature Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.10620/) (2023)
- [Making Retrieval-Augmented Language Models Robust to Irrelevant Context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.01558/) (2023)
- [Benchmarking Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Medicine](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.13178/) (2024)
- [From Anecdotal Evidence to Quantitative Evaluation Methods: A Systematic Review on Evaluating Explainable AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.08164/) (2022)
- [Overview of the TREC 2019 deep learning track](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.07820/) (2020)
- [The Power of Noise: Redefining Retrieval for RAG Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14887/) (2024)
- [Learn then Test: Calibrating Predictive Algorithms to Achieve Risk Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.01052/) (2021)
- [A Survey of Confidence Estimation and Calibration in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.08298/) (2023)
- [Large image datasets: A pyrrhic win for computer vision?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.16923/) (2020)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 30)

- [MemOS: A Memory OS for AI System](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.03724/) (2025)
- [A Comprehensive Survey in LLM(-Agent) Full Stack Safety: Data, Training and Deployment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.15585/) (2025)
- [Retrieval Augmented Generation and Understanding in Vision: A Survey and New Outlook](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.18016/) (2025)
- [Modality-Aware Neuron Pruning for Unlearning in Multimodal Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.15910/) (2025)
- [Mixture of Structural-and-Textual Retrieval over Text-rich Graph Knowledge Bases](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.20317/) (2025)
- [Tools in the Loop: Quantifying Uncertainty of LLM Question Answering Systems That Use Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.16113/) (2025)
- [Steering Multimodal Large Language Models Decoding for Context-Aware Safety](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.19212/) (2025)
- [Bias Evaluation and Mitigation in Retrieval-Augmented Medical Question-Answering Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.15454/) (2025)
- [Survey and Experiments on Mental Disorder Detection via Social Media: From Large Language Models and RAG to Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.02800/) (2025)
- [Principled Context Engineering for RAG: Statistical Guarantees via Conformal Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.17908/) (2025)
- [Multi-Agent Retrieval-Augmented Framework for Evidence-Based Counterspeech Against Health Misinformation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07307/) (2025)
- [RAG Safety: Exploring Knowledge Poisoning Attacks to Retrieval-Augmented Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.08862/) (2025)
- [Effective Damage Data Generation by Fusing Imagery with Human Knowledge Using Vision-Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.01380/) (2025)
- [RAG Makes Guardrails Unsafe? Investigating Robustness of Guardrails under RAG-style Contexts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.05310/) (2025)
- [Connect the Dots: Knowledge Graph-Guided Crawler Attack on Retrieval-Augmented Generation Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.15678/) (2026)
- [MrM: Black-Box Membership Inference Attacks against Multimodal RAG Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.07399/) (2025)
- [Dual-Space Smoothness for Robust and Balanced LLM Unlearning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.23362/) (2025)
- [HalluGuard: Evidence-Grounded Small Reasoning Models to Mitigate Hallucinations in Retrieval-Augmented Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.00880/) (2025)
- [When Confidence Takes the Wrong Path: Diagnosing Retrieval-State Lock-In in RAG](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.22728/) (2026)
- [Generating Medically-Informed Explanations for Depression Detection using LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.14671/) (2025)
- [With Argus Eyes: Assessing Retrieval Gaps via Uncertainty Scoring to Detect and Remedy Retrieval Blind Spots](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.09616/) (2026)
- [RAGFort: Dual-Path Defense Against Proprietary Knowledge Base Extraction in Retrieval-Augmented Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.10128/) (2025)
- [Learning to Code with Context: A Study-Based Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.05242/) (2025)
- [AstroRAG -- A Pagerank-Based Retrieval-Augmented Generation Pipeline for Question Answering in Astronomy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.25039/) (2026)
- [Evaluating RAG Reliability under Clean, Misleading, and Mixed Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.07783/) (2026)
- [Security and Privacy in Retrieval-Augmented Generation: Architectures, Threats, Defenses, and Future Directions for Building Trustworthy Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.25533/) (2026)
- [Healthier LLMs: Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Public Health Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.06641/) (2026)
- [The safety failures we are not instrumenting: a perspective on hidden safety-critical challenges in modern AI systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.19292/) (2026)
- [FashionKG-RAG: Knowledge Graph-Enhanced Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Fashion Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.22688/) (2026)
- [Evidence-Bounded Mental Health Reasoning from Heterogeneous Speech Protocols](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.31014/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is an advanced technique designed to address the challenges of Artificial Intelligence-Generated Content (AIGC). By integrating context retrieval into content generation, RAG provides reliable and up-to-date external knowledge, reduces hallucinations, and ensures relevant context across a wide range of tasks. However, despite RAG's success and potential, recent studies have shown that the RAG paradigm also introduces new risks, including robustness issues, privacy concerns, adversarial attacks, and accountability issues. Addressing these risks is critical for future applications of RAG systems, as they directly impact their trustworthiness. Although various methods have been developed to improve the trustworthiness of RAG methods, there is a lack of a unified perspective and framework for research in this topic. Thus, in this paper, we aim to address this gap by providing a comprehensive roadmap for developing trustworthy RAG systems. We place our discussion around five key perspectives: reliability, privacy, safety, fairness, explainability, and accountability. For each perspective, we present a general framework and taxonomy, offering a structured approach to understanding the current challenges, evaluating existing solutions, and identifying promising future research directions. To encourage broader adoption and innovation, we also highlight the downstream applications where trustworthy RAG systems have a significant impact.