Telomerase is a nuclear protein reverse transcriptase that adds the repeat sequence(TTAGGG)n to the end of chromosome with its own RNA template to stabilize the telomere length.Telomerase is activated in 85% to 90% of cancer cells,which has attracted a widespread concern and become an important breakthrough in tumor diagnosis and clinical treatment.Therefore,accurate and efficient determination of telomerase activity is of great significance.In recent years,many sensitive and accurate in vitro or in situ detection techniques have been developed for the detection of telomerase activity.In this paper,recent advances in the detection of telomerase activity have been reviewed,and the development trend for telomerase detection has been prospected.