The safety and health of organisms have always been a concern. Metal ions exist in organisms and have an important impact on the health and disease of organisms. However, the human body environment is complex, and the specific mechanism of metal ions in the human body is still unclear. Therefore, finding a way to detect metal ions in the human body is of great significance for exploring their role in the human body. Molecular fluorescent probes are generally composed of three parts: recognition group, fluorescent group and linking group. It mainly uses the interaction between the probe recognition group and metal ions to change the structure of the fluorescent probe, thereby causing changes in fluorescence properties to detect metals ion. The changes in these fluorescence properties involve different fluorescence mechanisms, such as the photo-induced electron transfer (PET) mechanism. Fluorescence will appear fluorescence quenching phenomenon due to the PET mechanism, and on-off or off-on fluorescent probes can be designed according to this mechanism; The intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanism is suitable for the design of ratiometric fluorescent probes due to the red-shift or blue-shift caused by the reaction between the probe and the detector. Fluorescence imaging technology has developed rapidly due to its specific and high-sensitivity identification ability and the advantages of real-time monitoring in vivo. It has been widely used in detecting active substances in vivo, and many metals ion probes have also been reported. This paper is mainly based on detecting different types of common metal ions such as copper ions, iron ions, zinc ions, mercury ions, etc., to study their content in the organism. Cholesterol probes and novel open-type near-infrared fluorescent probes for the detection of copper ions are reviewed, based on redox properties and the mechanism of linking N-oxide groups with unique Fe2+ deoxygenation to fluorophores to specifically recognize Fe2+. Design a fluorescent probe for detecting iron ions, construct a fluorescent probe for detecting mercury ions based on the deprotection reaction of thiocarboxaldehyde, fluorescent probes for zinc ions based on ICT and ESIPT effects, quinoline fluorescent probes for detecting magnesium ions, and fluorescent probes for detecting cadmium ions The advantages and disadvantages, design mechanism, mechanism of action, research progress and biological properties of different types of fluorescent probes for detecting metal ions in the past three years are reviewed. Application and prospect of fluorescent probes for unmonitored metal ions.