The work aims to understand the rapid detection methods of heavy metal lead to summarize the research progress of its methods at home and abroad, and prospect the future research trends. Aiming at the existing rapid detection methods of heavy metal lead, such as colorimetric method, fluorescence method, electrochemical method and synthetic new material method, the detection principle, detection limit and detection range of various methods were mainly explained. The methods for the detection of heavy metal lead were diverse and fast, which provided it with more choices for lead detection and the sensitivity to lead detection needed to be further improved. Through the introduction of the methods for the rapid detection of heavy metal lead, an understanding of the research progress at home and abroad is provided, and the future research trends are prospected.