High power femtosecond laser pulses undergo nonlinear filamentation in the atmosphere, with supercontinuum generation from the UV to the IR. Further more, the intense filaments can strongly interact with aerosols, stimulating nonlinear emissions like multiphoton-excited fluorescence or plasma emission. The white-light lidar, based on the properties of femtosecond laser pulses propagation, provides novel and multiple detection techniques. A brief review of the principle and applications of white-light lidar is presented. The theory about filamentation and structure of lidar are expounded. Characteristics of main white-light lidar systems reported so far in the world are introduced. The detection approaches and application examples are presented. In the end, perspectives for white-light lidar are analyzed.