Abstract: The inductive power transfer (IPT) technology provides an effective solution to the power supply of underwater vehicles for the long-time and continuous work, which has a good application prospect. This paper discusses the current hot issues of the underwater IPT technology from the theoretical and applied research aspects, mainly including eddy current loss in seawater calculation, system modeling, magnetic coupler design, and underwater anti-misalignment system design. Finally, the potential future development trends of the IPT technology are discussed from four aspects: deep-sea environmental adaptability, system interoperability, power and data hybrid transfer, and system-level optimization design.