The exploration of deeper and deeper space has always been the goal of mankind. Space nuclear power is the best choice to provide energy for the future deep space exploration and high-power spacecraft. In the past 50 years, space nuclear power technology has attracted wide attention around the world. A number of space nuclear power projects have been carried out, and space nuclear power systems ranging from KW to MW level have been designed. Considering that the space nuclear power system has the characteristics of huge heat production and low thermoelectric conversion efficiency, an efficient thermal control system is particularly important. In this paper, the development of thermal control system and thermal control technologies based on foreign space nuclear power projects are summarized, such as for super-large power with MW-level nuclear power system, liquid metal circuits combined with heat pipe radiator are mainly used for waste heat transfer and dispersion, and for KW-level nuclear power system, heat transfer and dissipation are mainly carried out through high-temperature heat pipe combined with expandable radiator. At the same time, the thermal control technology for KW ~ MW level space high-power high-temperature system are generalized, including high-temperature heat pipe, liquid metal loop technology, expandable radiator and heat pump technology, and the development status and development trend of the above four kinds of thermal control technology are discussed in the paper. All in all, this paper summarizes the research process and latest progress of thermal control technology at home and abroad in space nuclear power, and expounds the lightweight and efficient thermal control technology suitable for space nuclear power and the relevant development trends, which can provide some reference for the development of thermal control technology of large space nuclear power system in our country in the future.