Ultrasonic velocity and attenuation measurements are powerful tools to infer much information about the microstructure and properties of aluminum and its alloys. Laser-ultrasonics is a technology that enables doing these measurements remotely, in-situ or inline and in a fraction of a second. Therefore, it is possible to characterize the thermomechanical processing of aluminum alloys with unprecedented time resolution. This paper reviews the physical principles that allow relating velocity and attenuation measurements to various materials properties and microstructural features such as elastic moduli, crystallographic distribution orientation (texture), residual stresses, recrystallization and dislocations. In-situ (in laboratory furnaces) and in-line measurement examples from the Industrial Materials Institute research group are reviewed and presented.