Fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are a new type of photoluminescent nanomaterials. Due to their stable luminescent properties, abundant surface functional groups, safety, non-toxicity, good biocompatibility and low cost, they have great application prospects in the field of latent fingerprint detection and recognition. Latent fingerprints refer to the traces of human finger secretions left on the solid contact surfaces that are difficult to distinguish with the naked eyes, which require effective physical or chemical methods to effectively display and extract. So far, there are few reports on the development of latent fingerprints using CQDs and their precise identification in combination with computer technology. In this paper, red CQDs were successfully synthesized by one-step solvothermal method using o-phenylenediamine as the precursor and zinc oxalate as the modifier. The prepared red CQDs were mixed with polyvinylpyrrolidone, dried and ground to prepare red solid luminescent CQDs with uniform dispersion and quantum yield up to 27%, which were successfully applied to enhance the detection of latent fingerprints on various substrates. In order to accurately evaluate the similarity between the developed latent fingerprint and the target reference fingerprint, the structural similarity algorithm was used for similarity analysis. The matching degree of the latent fingerprint on the tin foil was as high as 90.5%, indicating that the combination of red solid fluorescent CQDs with digital processing programs can effectively develop and accurately identify latent fingerprints, which has great application prospect in the field of criminal investigation.