In the field of distributed optical fiber sensing technology, the application of the Brillouin scattering based optical time domain analysis system (BOTDA) in infrastructure structure health monitoring (SHM) has shown large-scale development, and the monitoring demand for the distribution of strain and temperature changes along or within engineering structures is increasing. The single-ended BOTDA system, with the convenient usage mode of single-end access of the sensing optical cable and combined with its own advantage of high-precision measurement, has won the favor in the engineering application field. In this paper, the development of single-ended stimulated Brillouin scattering fiber sensing technology is studied and summarized, the principle and characteristics of the single-ended BOTDA system based on Fresnel reflection and Rayleigh scattering are expounded, and the technical research of these two types of systems is subdivided, while the core content of each technical route is analyzed and discussed, such as heterodyne detection technology and multi-wavelength technology. Compared with the traditional double-ended access system, these types of single-ended BOTDA show different degrees of improvement in terms of simplifying the system structure, shortening the algorithm demodulation time, and reducing the frequency sweep times in addition to the advantages of single-ended access systems. Through the comprehensive analysis of related achievements and research progress, it is expected to further promote the in-depth research of high-performance single-ended BOTDA technology and its extended application in various related engineering fields.