In recent years, frequent bombing and terrorist attacks around the world have posed serious threats to national security and social stability. Therefore, achieving high sensitivity, anti-interference, and rapid response for the precise detection of various trace explosives in complex environments has become a major challenge in the detection of explosives. Optical fiber sensing technology has many advantages, such as high sensitivity, flexibility, electromagnetic interference resistance, corrosion resistance, compact size, and the ability to enable remote and real-time online monitoring, making it highly suitable for the safety detection of trace explosives. This article summarizes the application progress of various optical fiber sensing technologies and techniques in the field of explosive detection, including fluorescence-based fiber optic sensors, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and discusses their working principles. The performance and applications of different sensitive materials in explosive detection are also introduced. Finally, the current problems and challenges of optical fiber sensing technology in explosive detection are analyzed, and its future development directions are anticipated.