Prophylactic lateral lymph node dissection (LLND) formid-low rectal cancer is still controversial nowadays. For suspected pelvic lateral lymph nodes based on preoperative imaging or intraoperative exploration, it is necessarily to perform LLND selectively, which is an important surgical procedure for rectal cancer. Open LLND is traditionally performed, with major invasion andhighmorbidity. With the wide application of laparoscopy, laparoscopic LLND has been used gradually in China. With the advantage of laparoscopic amplification and minimal invasion, LLND could be performed more meticulously according to the layers and procedure, and the difficulty of LLND would be decreased with less blood loss and less trauma.With our initial experience, in this paper, we introduce the key techniques and research development of laparoscopic LLND for peer reference.