In this paper, several photonic generating methods for optical triangular pulses were reviewed. Four frontier research methods for generating optical triangular pulses were introduced, these four methods are respectively based on the frequency-to-time conversion, using normally dispersive fiber, by single-stage dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM), and using dual-parallel MZM. These four methods can be classified into two categories in terms of the optical source employed, such as mode-lock laser (MLL) and continuous-wave (CW) respectively. Compared with the methods based on MLL, those based on CW have many advantages, such as simpler structure, lower price, higher stability, more flexible and wider tunability. Besides, the method using single-stage drive MZM can generate versatile waveform optical pulses, which has better performance than the first two methods in tunable capability of both repetition rate and center wavelength. With the same driving signal applied, the optical source using the dual-parallel MZM can generate signal with higher frequency than that of using the single-stage MZM.