Heavy metals are difficult to degrade after polluting the environment and have strong bioaccumulation after entering the organism,which poses a great threat to environmental safety and human health.In addition,some high toxic heavy metal ions could also be used as terrorist agents for deliberate poisoning and threat.Therefore,it is urgent to develop rapid and on site detection methods for heavy metals.Due to the complex pretreatment,high cost and professional needing,the on site applications of traditional instrument detection methods are limited.Recently,with the development of technology and the application of new materials,the sensitivity,portability and cost of fluorescence sensing technology have been greatly improved,among which the aptamer based fluorescence sensing technology has been widely developed and applied in the specific recognition toward heavy metals.In this paper,the applications of aptamer based fluorescence sensors in the detection of heavy metal ions are reviewed in the fields of labeled,unlabeled and nano materials,aiming to provide ideas for the rapid detection of heavy metal ions in the field.