Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique is widely used to analyze the composition and the concentration of elements in materials, which is based on the atomic emission spectral technology. LIBS has excellent advantages, such as rapid speed, multi-element detection and no need of any sample pretreatment. A lot of researches are done in the fields of the environment monitoring, industrial production control, food security and so on, and a relatively complete theory system has been formed. There still are a lot of technical problems along with the instrument development of LIBS technology. A review is given about the mechanism of LIBS technique and the progress of LIBS technology. The spectral detection method, qualitative detection of the characteristic emission lines and quantitative detection of heavy metal elements are included in the LIBS detection process. In addition, the instrument development of LIBS technology and inquiries about the developing prospect of LIBS instruments are described. The challenges and developing prospect of LIBS are investigated at last.