Deterministically integrating single solid-state quantum emitters with photonic nanostructures serves as a key enabling resource in the context of photonic quantum technology. Due to the random spatial location of many widely-used solid-state quantum emitters, a number of positioning approaches for locating the quantum emitters before nanofabrication have been explored in the last decade. Here, the working principles of several nanoscale positioning methods and the most recent progress in this field, covering techniques including atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, confocal microscopy with in situ lithography, and wide-field fluorescence imaging are reviewed. A selection of representative device demonstrations with high-performance is presented, including high-quality single-photon sources, bright entangled-photon pairs, strongly-coupled cavity QED systems, and other emerging applications. The challenges in applying positioning techniques to different material systems and opportunities for using these approaches for realizing large-scale quantum photonic devices are discussed.