Temperature is the most intuitive and widespread quantity among various physical fields. Dramatic changes in temperature usually indicate the appearance of anomalies. Therefore, temperature is often an important indicator. With the development of science and technology, the scales in many fields are becoming more and more miniaturized. However, there are no mature temperature measurement systems in scenarios where the spatial scale is less than 10 microns. In addition to the spatial resolution requirement, the sensor may not have a dramatic impact on the object to be measured. The nitrogen vacancy center (NV) in diamond is a stable luminescence defect. The measurement of its spectrum and spin state can be used to obtain information about physical quantities near the color center, such as temperature and electro-magnetic field. Due to its stable chemical properties and high thermal conductivity, NV center can be applied in noninvasive detection for nano-scale researches. It also can be used in the life field because it is non-toxic to cells. Moreover, combined with different techniques, such as optical fiber, scanning thermal microscopy, NV centers can be used to achieve local temperature measurements in different scenarios. This paper focuses on the temperature properties, the method of temperature measurement, and related applications of NV centers.