With higher demand and technological development to promote the working speed of aerial vehicles, the mobility and flexibility of aerial optical imaging have become more prominent, but the technical difficulty of achieving high-quality, high-resolution imaging is also extremely challenging. The complex interaction between aircraft and high-speed airflow produces aero-optical effects, and light waves or beams are subject to strong interference when passing through complex flow fields and optical windows, which has attracted many scientists to carry out multidisciplinary cross-fertilization of related research work, and a large number of research results have been achieved, providing strong support for experimental testing and engineering practice. In this paper, starting from the calculation of aero-optical flow field and optical window, the research progress of aero-optical transmission effect is reviewed in detail, the corresponding calculation methods are summarized, and the thinking and suggestions of aero-optical transmission effect calculation for aerial optical imaging are given based on the current technological development trend.