<p>Transparent ceramics have optical, mechanical, and thermal properties comparable to those of single-crystal materials, and are widely used in a variety of applications such as transparent armor, infrared windows, high-power lasers, white-light illumination, and medical diagnostics. Optical transparency is one of the most important properties of transparent ceramics, yet preparing high-quality transparent ceramic materials with excellent mechanical properties remains challenging. Hot isostatic pressing technology, widely applied in many fields such as powder metallurgy near-net molding and alloy diffusion joining, is considered to be an effective method to develop and produce transparent ceramics with high optical quality. This paper reviews the materials commonly used in the preparation of transparent ceramics and the recent achievements in HIP-based transparent ceramic research, analyzes the mechanism by which HIP enhances transparent ceramic performance, and discusses and prospects the development of HIP-applied transparent ceramics. It is summarized that common ceramic sintering techniques often result in internal pores (which act as optical scattering sources and reduce transmittance), while HIP is an effective method to obtain high-quality transparent ceramics by improving densification and optimizing microstructures.</p>