With the rapid economic development of lake basins, the frequent occurrence of cyanobacteria blooms has become more and more serious, and the eutrophication of water bodies has become a major environmental problem at home and abroad. Phytoplankton is the primary producer of water bodies and is one of the main indicators to measure the degree of eutrophication of water bodies. Remote sensing technology is an important means to detect the temporal and spatial distribution of phytoplankton in water bodies. Based on the collection and sorting of nearly a thousand research papers on phytoplankton remote sensing in water bodies at home and abroad, from the perspectives of satellite data sources, research content and research methods, the historical progress, research focus and development trends of remote sensing technology in the application of phytoplankton monitoring in eutrophic lakes are summarized. Studies have shown that the existing remote sensing research on phytoplankton in eutrophic water bodies takes the problem of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes as the starting point, and the research perspective is shifted from the surface of the water body (algae bloom area and pigment concentration) to three-dimensional underwater (total algae biomass); The method has shifted from qualitative identification to quantitative inversion; the research content has advanced from monitoring cyanobacteria blooms to detecting different types of cyanobacteria, and gradually formed an application-oriented, "MODIS/VIIRS daily monitoring of large and medium lakes-GF/Sentinel2 targeted monitoring of small lakes" -UAV emergency monitoring" phytoplankton remote sensing integrated monitoring system. The above research combed the development trend of the phytoplankton remote sensing monitoring lake water environment subject of eutrophic water bodies and provided important technical support and theoretical references for personnel engaged in the monitoring and early warning of cyanobacteria bloom ecological disasters.