Laser ranging plays an important role in the modern distance measurements, especially in the precise absolute distance measurement. In the applications such as the advanced manufacturing and space mission, an efficient distance measurement is required with a measurement range of tens of meters or up to a thousand meters but with a submillimeter or even micrometer precision. Simultaneously, the fast and efficient measurement is needed. It is a huge challenge to laser source for its flexibility, stability and traceability. A femtosecond optical frequency comb becomes a powerful tool in laser precision ranging due to its abundant modes, its relative stability of 10 -11 and its traceability to a microwave clock. The high-precision time resolution of a femtosecond pulse in time-domain and the abundant optical modes in frequency-domain make the new measuring principles possible. The study status of femtosecond-frequency-comb-based absolute distance measurements is reviewed. The absolute distance measurement methods are classified according to the time-frequency characteristics of an optical frequency comb, and the principles and features of all kinds of methods are analyzed. Nowdays, the femtosecond-frequency-comb-based ranging possesses a micrometer or even sub-micrometer precision within a large distance range and also has a potential to simultaneously range multiple points. With the increase of measurement efficiency, the femtosecond-optical-frequency-comb-based ranging must and should be widely used in the large-size precision ranging.