With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, it is of great significance to develop intelligent materials with fast response, high efficiency, and simple and easy processing. In recent years, researchers have been very interested in Near-Infrared (NIR) light-responsive intelligent liquid crystal nanocomposites. The marriage of NIR-absorbing nanomaterials with liquid crystals (LCs) can enable LC-based smart materials to respond to light stimuli in the NIR band, which holds promising applications in areas of wearable electronics, biomimetic machines, soft robotics and biomedical devices, etc. Herein, we provide a state-of-the-art account on the recent advancement in LC-based photonic crystals and smart actuators. LC-based photonic crystal is a composite of NIR-absorbing nanomaterials with chiral LCs such as cholesterics and blue phases, so that the photonic materials can respond in the NIR band to produce a structural color change; Nanostructured LC-actuator is a composite of NIR-absorbing nanomaterials with crosslinking liquid crystalline polymers, so that the smart liquid crystalline material can respond in the NIR band to enable a shape change or macroscopic locomotion. This review concludes with a perspective on the opportunities and challenges in the development of NIR light-responsive intelligent liquid crystal nanocomposites and their potential applications.