One of the primary development directions of future diode-pumped solid-state lasers is to realize the "Three highs", namely, the laser output with high power, high efficiency, and high beam quality. However, the thermal effects will degrade the performance of laser device severely. As one of the most promising gain medium materials, laser ceramics have the advantages of strong continuous laser output, high thermal conductivity and high concentration doping. Meanwhile, laser ceramics are easy to achieve large size, batch production and composite structure sample preparation, while the gain medium with composite structure can effectively improve the thermal effect of solid-state lasers. The fabrication of optical waveguide structure in laser ceramics can efficiently dissipate heat, improve pumping efficiency and obtain compact laser system with high gain. This kind of ceramics will hopefully solve the core problem of "Three highs" solid-state lasers. In this paper, the research development, the design principle, the preparation techniques and the material properties of optical waveguide laser ceramics are reviewed and introduced. In the end, the future research of optical waveguide laser ceramics is prospected and analyzed.