Both gene replacement therapy and alteration of host gene expression are playing increasingly important roles in the treatment of ocular diseases. Ocular gene therapy may provide alternatives to current treatments for eye diseases that are either greatly invasive and thus run the risk of complications, that offer only short-term relief from disease symptoms, or that are unable to directly treat vision loss. The success of three separate phase I clinical trials investigating a gene therapy intervention for the treatment of the retinal degenerative disorder Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA) has unveiled the therapeutic potential of gene therapy. Preliminary results have demonstrated ocular gene transfer, using nonpathogenic recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors specifically, to be a safe, effective, and long-term treatment for LCA, a previously untreatable disorder. Nonpathogenic rAAV vectors offer the potential for long-term treatment. Many of the genes implicated in human ocular diseases have been identified, and animal models for such diseases have been developed, which have greatly facilitated the application of experimental rAAV-mediated gene therapy. This review highlights the key features of rAAV-mediated gene therapy that make it the most suitable gene therapy treatment approach for ocular diseases. Furthermore, it summarizes the current progress of rAAV-mediated gene therapy interventions/applications for a wide variety of ophthalmologic disorders.