With the increasingly serious environmental pollution and the intensified energy war, the all-round development and utilization of marine energy will become an indispensable key link in China’s implementation of the maritime power strategy. In recent years, with the support of the state, China’s wave energy generation technology has made a key breakthrough.In order to protect the environment, save energy and reduce emissions, and promote the utilization of wave energy, this paper reviews the development history of application generation technology, summarizes its development from two aspects of optimization and application of wave energy conversion devices, and analyses the application examples of wave energy generation devices on ships. This paper summarizes the application trend of wave power generation devices on ships: wave power generation should be used as auxiliary and domestic electricity for ships and wave energy should be combined with other new energy sources. Wave energy application in marine power generation can effectively reduce emissions from ships, which is conducive to the sustainable development of human society.