The vertical cavity is the core structure of lasers, detectors, filters, sensors and so on. The optical field distribution of the vertical cavity has an important impact on the performance of these devices. The structure of the vertical cavity affects the optical field in the vertical cavity, thus affecting the design, fabrication, and performance of devices based on the vertical cavity. In recent years, many studies have been done on the construction and optical manipulation of vertical cavity, and remarkable progresses have been achieved in fundamental theory and device applications. Firstly, the dispersion characteristics of the conventional top/bottom distributed Bragg reflector vertical cavity, the optical manipulation methods and their applications in lasers and filters were introduced; Then, the dispersion characteristics of one- and two-dimensional high-index-contrast subwavelength grating (HCG) based vertical cavities were presented, and the optical manipulation of HCG-based vertical cavities in novel lasers and monolithic multi-wavelength filter arrays were reviewed; Finally, the article was summarized and the new applications of vertical cavity were prospected.