Three kinds of high-performance fiber lasers were systematically investigated including the single frequency continuous wave (CW) fiber lasers with narrow linewidth and low relative intensity noise (RIN), the high energy long-nanosecond-pulsed single frequency fiber lasers and the high peak power short-nanosecond-pulsed fiber lasers. The single frequency CW fiber lasers operating in 1 μm, 1.5 μm and 2 μm regions were developed. The typical spectral linewidth was less than 3 kHz and the RIN approached the short noise limit. One high energy nanosecond pulsed single frequency fiber laser in 1.5 μm region was developed. It can produce 200 μJ single frequency laser pulses with 100-500 ns pulse width at 20 kHz repetition rate. A fiber laser producing pulses with 700 kW peak power, 3 ns pulse width at 10 kHz was developed. High repetition rate (up to 3 MHz) nanosecond fiber lasers was also developed, which can provide 1-5 ns laser pulses with 200 W peak power. The applications of these lasers in laser LIDARs are addressed in this paper.