Atmospheric water vapor plays a significant role in water cycle and climate change, and is closely related to human production and daily life. The timely detection of atmospheric water vapor can offer weather warnings and guide human production and life. After decades of development, Raman lidar technology for water vapor detection has stood out among numerous water vapor detection technologies with its advantages of ultra-high spatio-temporal resolution, long-distance detection, high sensitivity and low labor cost. This article reviews the development of water vapor Raman lidar and its related technologies, with the focus on the calibration and verification of Raman lidar system, spectral splitting techniques, system integration as well as the application and performance of water vapor Raman lidar system.