Beam scanning technology based on optical phased arrays has great potential for applications in the fields of LIDAR, space optical communication, and optical switching. Among them, the microlens array optical phased array can modulate the tilted phase of multiple beams simultaneously through the relative displacement of micrometer scale between microlens arrays, so as to achieve large angle beam scanning, with the advantages of large emitting aperture, simple structure, small size, micro-inertia, etc. Several well-known institutions at home and abroad have conducted research on the microlens array optical phased array. This paper first introduces the scanning principle of microlens array optical phased array, then elaborates on its development status and application, and finally gives an outlook on the trend of its development.