When compared with the traditional edge-emitting semiconductor lasers, the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) offer several advantageous properties, including a narrow line width, superior beam quality, high reliability, and low manufacturing cost. Recently, with an increase in the output power and power conversion efficiency of the 808 nm VCSEL arrays, they have become an attractive alternative for the pumping sources of solid-state lasers. In this study, we introduce the performance advantages, applications, and status of the VCSELs. As for the VCSEL-array-pumped solid-state lasers, the research progress is reviewed, and the development prospect as well as their technical shortcomings are discussed.