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Transparent glass ceramics (TGCs) with minimized scattering loss offer the combined characteristics of both glasses and (transparent) ceramics. The functionalities of the dispered crystals make TGCs a new generation of tailorable optical materials with a wide range of applications from optics to photonics. Most of conventional glass ceramics (GCs), e.g., silicate glass ceramics, contain crystals involving both network formers and modifiers, and they are known for their superior mechanical/thermal performances. In this paper, we pay more attention to those TGCs containing crystalline phases composed of only network modifiers, including nanocrystals of noble metals, metal fluorides, oxides, chalcogenides, etc. We review recent advances in conventional fabrication methods as well as in emerging techniques for the production of TGCs, such as solid state reaction, sol–gel and laser–induced crystallization. We then …