With the development of marine economy and ocean exploration, the demand about the detection methods with high accuracy and efficiency becomes urgent. As a technology which combined the spectral technology and imaging technology, the hyperspectral imaging technology can bridge the gap of underwater high-precision detection demand to some degree, so the researchers begin to develop it and use it in the underwater detection. The background of the development of underwater hyperspectral imaging technology is first introduced, then the different methods of hyperspectral imaging technology and the components of underwater hyperspectral detection system are summarized. The research progress of underwater hyperspectral imaging detecting technology is summarized after that. The challenges which underwater hyperspectral imaging technology faces are pointed out, and the expectation of the underwater hyperspectral imaging technology is given.