Modulation and demodulation are key technologies to improve the transmission efficiency of optical wireless communication. Different modulation methods have different performances. This paper summarizes the research progress of various types of pulse position modulation at home and abroad, and then introduces the research from the Xi’an University of Technology in the area of pulse position modulation. For on-off keying, pulse position modulation, multiple pulse position modulation, differential pulse position modulation, overlapping pulse position modulation, dual duration position modulation, dual-amplitude pulse position modulation, digital pulse interval modulation, double-headed pulse interval modulation, dual-pulse interval modulation, dual-amplitude pulse interval modulation, fixed-length digital pulse interval modulation, fixed-length dual-amplitude pulse interval modulation, shorten pulse position modulation and separated double pulse position modulation, the performance of the symbol structure, bandwidth requirement, average transmit power, time slot error rate and average channel capacity are analyzed and compared. Finally, the development direction of pulse-like position modulation is prospected.