The batch production process is an important part of process industry. Due to unique flexibility and high efficiency, it has been widely applied to food, chemical, pharmaceutical, plastic processing and other industries. The optimization and control of batch processes are extensively studied regarding their nonlinearity and repeatability. In this paper, the optimization and control strategies applied to batch processes in recent 30 years are summarized. Moreover, the difficulties in optimization and control are analyzed, considering nature of batch processes, and further possible development is estimated.