The study of the vertical distribution of marine matters is essential for maintaining the health of marine ecosystems and utilization of marine living resources. Compared to other technologies the great advantage of ocean Lidar is that it efficiently provide all-weather perception capability of the vertical distribution of marine matters over a large area. The application status of Lidar in detection of marine materials at home and abroad, including seawater turbidity, chlorophyll concentration, CDOM (Chromophoric dissolved organic matter), and the distribution of fish and zooplankton communities was analyzed. The problems existing in these applications were discussed by considering the detection mechanisms. Beside, this review provided some outlooks on the development direction of ocean Lidar for obtaining the vertical distribution of marine matters.