Phthalocyanines are such materials that optically limit nanosecond light pulses in a fairly wide range of the UV/Vis spectrum via excited state absorption processes, which can be used to protect human eyes, optical elements and sensors from intense laser pulses. Optical limiting response can be tailored over a broad range due to the high architectural flexibility of the phthalocyanine structure. A series of new highly soluble axially and peripherally substituted or bridged phthalocyanine-based organic functional materials with excellent optical limiting potential have been reported in recent years. The usual tendency of phthalocyanines to form aggregates can be effectively suppressed by axial substitution. The nanosecond nonlinear absorption and the optical limiting of axially modified phthalocyanines are dominated by a strong triplet state absorption in the optical region comprised between Q-bands and B-bands in their UV/Vis absorption spectra. This review lays special stress on introducing the recent progress in this area.