In the past decade, optogenetics is one of the most popular neuromodulation techniques in neuroscience. This review first briefly introduces the basic principle of optogenetics and summarizes its advantages in comparing with those traditional methods, and then lists some potential applications of this novel technique. In order to promote the conversion of optogenetic treatment in clinics, it is necessary to integrateoptogenetics with nonhuman primate study. This review then systematically looksback the progress of optogenetic studies in the nonhuman primates, and particularly highlights the work done by Dai et al.. In addition, this review also points out some challenges towards the development of optogenetics in the future. In the end, to advance the optogenetic-related studies, especially in the nonhuman primates, this review proposes some suggestions to the planning “Chinese Brain Initiative”.