recently, the magneto-optical chalcogenide glasses have attracted great interest in the field of magneto-optical materials owing to their excellent properties, including but not limited to the independence of verdet constant to temperature, easy fabrication of optical fiber and optical waveguide, etc. the progress in investigation and development of magneto-optical properties in chalcogenide glasses is systematically introduced. meanwhile, the factors that influence the verdet constant of chalcogenide glasses are analyzed in detail. in addition, the possible development direction for chalcogenide glass is discussed. © 2016, materials review magazine. all right reserved.