Based on the principle of chromatic aberration confocal microscopy, the chromatic confocal microscopy (CCM) technology utilizes different focal positions of different wavelengths to achieve effective depth measurement; moreover, CCM employs a confocal setting to filter out defocused and stray light to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. This paper first introduces the basic principles of CCM and different scanning schemes, then reviews the development of CCM, and expounds the research progress of CCM at home and abroad. Considering the key issues such as optical design, signal generation model, spectral data processing, and crosstalk reduction, this paper summarizes relevant research schemes. CCM technology has several advantages such as nondestructive testing, high resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio, and effective tomography. Thus, it can be broadly utilized in various fields, including the biomedical, industrial testing, and other fields.