To meet the requirements of high efficiency, safety, and green development in the coal industry, the application status, core constraint, and future development trends of laser technology in fully mechanized coal mining equipment were summarized. Laser technology has achieved excellent improvement effects in fields such as the positioning, navigation and condition detection of fully mechanized mining equipment. In terms of positioning and navigation, the fusion technology of lidar and inertial navigation has solved the positioning problem in underground environments, enhancing the positioning accuracy of coal mining machines and the support accuracy of hydraulic supports, and improving the daily advancement speed of the working face and the precision of equipment coordination. In terms of condition monitoring, technologies such as laser ultrasound and profile scanning have achieved non-contact monitoring of the core components of fully mechanized mining equipment. The lead time for fault early warning has been further extended, unplanned shutdowns of scraper conveyors have been significantly reduced, and efficiency losses caused by pick wear of shearers have been notably lowered. The large-scale application of laser technology still faces three key constraints: the high-humidity, high-dust, and strong-vibration underground environment leads to energy attenuation of laser equipment and increased positioning errors; the initial cost of laser systems is relatively high, resulting in a long investment payback period for small and medium-sized coal mines; there are technical shortcomings in the real-time processing of laser data from a single working face and the collaboration of multi-system data. In the future, through the integrated hardware innovation of moisture-proof, dust-proof, and shock-absorbing functions, the multi-technology integration, the replacement of domestic core components, and the establishment of industry detection standards, laser technology will become the core driving force for promoting the intelligent upgrading of fully mechanized coal mining.