Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a unique malignant tumor that has a distinct geographic and racial distribution, with a high incidence in southeast Asia and southern China. High degree of malignancy, poor prognosis and difficulty in early diagnosis remain a problem in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Raman spectroscopy technique based on inelastic scattering is a rapid and nonivasive detection method, which is capable of providing the information of biochemical components at molecular vibration level.This article reviewed the recent research progress of nasopharyngeal carcinoma based on Raman spectroscopy. It mainly introduces the study of detecting nasopharyngeal carcinoma tissue by using Raman spectroscopy as well as surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy (SERS). The emphasis is put on the latest works by our research group, including high wavenumber Raman spectroscopy of tissue, Raman spectroscopy of tissue smears, and a specially designed endoscopic device combined with Raman spectroscopy for in vivo nasopharyngeal cancerous tissue detection, which was firstly developed by our group. Finally, the prospects of the development of Raman spectroscopy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma were discussed.