Chaotic laser is a kind of unstable output form of semiconductor laser, with the characteristics of broad spectrum, noise-like and low coherence, which has a wide range of applications in the fields of communication, radar and sensing. This paper introduces three main working mechanisms of chaotic semiconductor lasers: optical feedback, optical injection and optoelectronic feedback method, and focuses on the chaotic performance of typical chaotic semiconductor lasers such as spectral bandwidth, time-delay characteristics as well as complexity and their research progress; then focuses on the development trend of photonically-integrated chaotic semiconductor lasers; at last describes the role of chaotic semiconductor laser in the classified optical communication, random number generator, LiDAR, distributed fiber optic sensing technology, chaotic optical time-domain reflectometer and other fields. This review would provide a reference for the development and application prospects of chaotic semiconductor lasers with broadband power spectrum and low time delay signatures.