Currently the carrier-based aircraft landing control is mostly based on linear control methods, while the nonlinear characteristics of the model and the airwake disturbance may lead to the failure with these methods. Therefore, it is necessary to apply the nonlinear control method to the landing control field. Firstly, this paper reviews the nonlinear control method in application to carrier-based aircraft landing, and summarizes advantages and deficiencies of nonlinear methods. Secondly, the backstepping nonlinear method is emphatically analyzed. On the basis of traditional backstepping, and combining with the carrier-based aircraft landing rudder limited problem caused by the environmental disturbances and radar noise, the development of the constrained command filtered backstepping (CCFB) method is mainly summarized. The advantages and disadvantages of CCFB method are analyzed, and the possibility of introducing CCFB into the carrier-based landing control is discussed. Finally, the future development trends are forecasted.