To provide valuable information on the current status of research and the hot topics in the field of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in Baijiu brewing, this study conducted a literature review and screening of relevant publications from 2006 to 2025, based on the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and the Web of Science (WOS) core collection with “Baijiu” and “lactic acid bacteria” as search terms. We employed bibliometrics to analyze the annual number of publications, authors, research institutions, and keyword co-occurrence and bursts of 284 Chinese publications and 324 English publications in this field, and visualized the results in a knowledge map. The results showed that the annual number of publications on LAB in Baijiu brewing exhibited an upward trend overall, with the number of English publications significantly surpassing that of Chinese publications after 2020. Chinese scholars constituted the research mainstream, and XU Yan, ZHANG Suyi, SUN Baoguo and other scholars were major contributors to this research field. Universities such as Jiangnan University, Sichuan University, and Sichuan University of Science and Engineering formed the core research forces, exhibiting a distinct pattern of production-education-research collaboration. Research hotspots gradually shifted from the early isolation and identification of LAB to the in-depth analysis of community structure, dynamic succession, metabolism, and flavor substance formation mechanisms, driven by multi-omics technologies. Future research can focus on the multi-omics mechanisms of LAB, breeding of functional strains, intelligent regulation of synthetic microbial communities, and technological transformation for green brewing to boost the high-quality development of the Baijiu industry. As the first systematic bibliometric and visual analysis of this specific field, this study provides a reference for scholars to grasp the development trends and optimize academic layout, while also offering informational support to promote the scientific and intelligent upgrading of the Baijiu brewing industry.