Abstract: In order to compensate the ship’ s motion response in waves and improve the efficiency of marine operation,more advanced motion control technologies were needed for wave compensation equipment. For better understanding the development of wave compensation control technology,the classification methods of feedforward control and feedback control were adopted to introduce the wave compensation control algorithm research status. Among them,the main algorithms of feedforward control were Kalman filtering method,neural network,and time series analysis method; the main algorithms of feedback control were PID control algorithm and model predictive control algorithm. The theory and research states of these algorithms in wave compensation control were analyzed and the key characteristics of Kalman filtering method,neural network,time series analysis method,PID control algorithm,and model predictive control algorithm through the comparative analysis of the related academic literature were pointed out. In the conclusion,according to the principles and characteristics of different control algorithms,the algorithm of the next possible research direction in the wave compensation control was given,which can provide guidance to the research and development of wave compensation control system.