The principle of a lidar based on Brillouin scattering is introduced. The basic physics of the Brillouin lidar is discussed. The applications of the Brillouin lidar in remote sensing of the ocean, such as measurement of the sound speed and the bulk viscosity of water and detecting submerged objects are investigated. An actual Brillouin lidar system is developed. Also, several basic problems related to Brillouin lidar are studied in detail. The attenuation coefficient of a pulsed laser beam with high pulsed energy in water is investigated; it is helpful to reveal the propagation property of a laser beam in water. The investigations on the threshold value of SBS are made theoretically and experimentally. Finally, a novel phenomena is investigated experimentally, in which Stimulated Raman scattering can be enhanced by stimulated Brillouin scattering.