Because of its complex interactions with solar radiation and clouds, aerosols have an important impact on climate. Evaluating the impact of aerosols on climate effects relies on the accurate information of aerosol optical properties. Due to the lack of suitable instruments and methods, the light absorption of aerosols has always been a parameter that is very difficult to measure accurately, resulting in the great uncertainty in current assessment of the impact of aerosols on the climate. Since its signal is only related to the light absorption of the sample and is not affected by the scattering of the sample, photoacoustic spectroscopy is very suitable for measuring the light absorption of aerosols andis considered to be one of the most effective method for measuring the light absorption characteristics of aerosols. The research progress of the photoacoustic spectroscopy in measuring the light absorption characteristics of aerosols is reviewed, and the new technologies developed in recent years are introduced and analyzed, which can provide references for researchers in related fields.