The traditional photoelectric detection equipment can only obtain the intensity information of the target, while the polarization detection technology can increase the information dimension of the detection by obtaining the polarization information, significantly enhance the contrast between the target and the background, and solve the problem of target detection under complex background. At first, the technical connotation and development history of polarization detection is briefly introduced. And then, the application of polarization detection technology in target detection is introduced in detail. At last, the development trend of polarization detection technology in the future is prospected.