In this paper, spectral and imaging technique were used as effective tools of evaluation for quality of fruits and vegetables, in order to ensure safety of food and health of consumers. In addition, external information was acquired by imaging technique, internal information was acquired by spectral technique. In order to track national and international progress of research, application of spectral and imaging technique was summarized, including prediction of external quality (surface defect, colour, etc.), internal quality (single or comprehensive quality), maturity, shelf-life and storage period, tracing back to the source, growing monitoring , safety (pesticide residue, infestation of diseases and pests, recognition of transgenic product, etc.) and design of optical systems. Afterwards, some problems were analyzed, such as the weakness of spectral libraries, complex algorithm of analyses for mixed data, intricate factors of calibration model, an so on. Finally, the trend of development was discussed. This review indicated that the following aspects were identified as direction of future research, including visualization analysis of constituents, establishing scientific system of comprehensive evaluation, analyzing the mechanism of interaction between different compositions, application of optical theories and properties(analyzing the mechanism of interaction between the light and tissue of fruits and vegetables, inversions of optical parameter, etc.) , application of new algorithms and the combination of many algorithms, enhancing dependability and stabilization of different algorithms, the establishment of stable and universal model, the commercial development and application of low-cost as well as handheld optical instruments. This review shows spectral and imaging technique have the potential to assess quality and safety of fruits and vegetables.