Abstract: With the development of food industry, product safety is becoming an increasingly important public health issue. Among the factors that affect food safety, illnesses caused by pathogenic microorganisms is of paramount concern. To prevent or curtail the undesirable incidence from happening, establishment of rapid detection methodologies on foodborne pathogens is one of the indispensable measures. Conventional bacterial detection methods, such as culture and colony counting, are time consuming, laborious and inadequate to meet the demand of a modern society. In recent years, various rapid detection methods have been developed, which apply the technologies involving immunological, molecular biotechnical and/or bio-sensing approaches. This article reviews the methodologies currently available in China and abroad, and compares the pros and cons of the associated technologies and applications.