Laser shock treatment is a kind of advanced surface strengthening technology for metallic materials, and its remarkable strengthening effect has been verified and universally accepted in many different metallic materials. In order to prevent the influence of laser shock on the shape size of precision parts or make use of the technology to introduce plastic deformation of metallic materials, it is necessary to study the deformation criterion of materials under laser shock. In this paper, the deformation law of different materials treated by laser shock is analyzed, and the limitation of laser shock in deformation phenomenon is explained based on the deformation mechanism of stress gradient and impact bending, the necessity of basic research on material deformation caused by laser shock is proposed. The effect of many factors such as laser parameters and impact modes, constraint modes on the laser shock-induced deformation is summarized, and it is proved that the adjustment and optimization of multiple parameters play an important role in controlling laser shock-induced deformation degree. Moreover, the advantages of numerical simulation method in the study of laser shock-induced deformation are analyzed in this paper, and at the same time,the urgency of establishing a material constitutive model adapting to high strain rate deformation and perfecting the simulation of laser plasma formation process is put forward. The development of laser shock deformation law in advanced manufacturing industry is prospected through the introduction of the sizing technology of laser shock, and the research directions of the deformation calibration based on laser shock and the on-line monitoring of deformation degree are presented.