Novel laser beam steering technologies are capable of steering a laser beam in real-time and programmable fashion. The precision non-mechanical agile beam steering system based on liquid crystals can be established in a way of small size,light weight,and low power consumption. The research progresses of beam steering technologies at home and abroad are summarized. The principle and some key technologies of beam steering system based on liquid crystal are introduced. Taking the self-maded liquid crystal optical phased array (LCOPA) as example,the factors that affect diffraction efficiency of the device are analyzed,the methods that design and optimize the device are explained and discussed. The ways that improve the features of LCOPA are summarized including response time,dispersion,and broadband beam steering et al. The research trend of beam steering technologies based on liquid crystal is previewed.