Abstract: Path planning is one of the research hotspots of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and a key technology for realizing their autonomy and intelligence. Aiming at the problem of local path planning for USVs, this paper elaborates on the application of various algorithms at the two levels of path search and trajectory optimization, introduces the latest research results in recent years and carries out an in-depth analysis of the characteristics and deficiencies of various algorithms. It then summarizes an improved method to adapt the algorithm to the motion characteristics of USVs, and finally gives a brief outlook on the development trends of local path planning for USVs, providing some ideas for future research in this field.