Lean combustion can improve the thermal efficiency of an engine and reduce the emission of pollutants. But lean combustion is challenged by the low flame propagation and the possible local quenching of the initial flame kernel near the lean limit at high pressures. Laser-induced spark ignition can effectively solve these problems residing in the combustion process of the fuel at low equivalence ratio and high pressures. In addition, the laser-induced spark ignition can achieve multi-point ignition easily and can reduce the combustion time and increase the combustion pressure significantly. Therefore, laser induced spark ignition has many advantages over the traditional electric spark plug ignition technique. Conical cavity, diffractive lens, spatial light modulator and Dammam grating have been used to achieve the multi-point laser-induced spark ignition. Several technical approaches of multi-point laser induced spark ignition are summarized. The research status and the latest achievements of multi-point laser induced spark ignition for internal combustion engines are discussed. Several methods to achieve multi-point ignition of laser-induced spark are evaluated. Furthermore, the advantages and problems to be solved for each method in the multi-point ignition of laser induced spark are pointed out. On the basis of the above examinations, some suggestions on the future work are also proposed.