Scanning white light interferometry is one of the most accurate surface topography measurement techniques. It is widely used in various industrial and scientific research fields. Since its invention more than thirty years ago, the progress and breakthroughs of this technique have been continuously made, driven by the demands of advanced manufacturing sectors such as precision optics, semiconductors, automotive and aerospace. This paper summarizes the important progress of scanning white light interferometry in the past two decades from the aspects of its applications, new measurement methods and algorithms, system designs, theoretical modeling, calibration and error compensation, and puts forward the prospect of further development in this field.