Researches on latent fingerprint development using novel nanomaterials including quantum dots, metal and metal oxide nanomaterials, rare-earth doped up- and down-conversion luminescent nanomaterials, carbon dots, metal-organic frameworks, and aggregation-induced emission materials have mushroomed in recent years, resulting in the emergence of nanomaterial-based development of latent fingerprints. Fingerprint development employing nanomaterials has some outstanding advantages such as simple operation, flexible approach, remarkable effect, and wide applicability, which can be served as an important supplement to the traditional techniques. So far, most studies have focused on discovering new nanomaterials and the advancement of new methods for latent fingerprint development. However, research on the influence factors and the comprehensive evaluations for the effects of fingerprint development still remains scattered and unsystematic. The accurate evaluation of fingerprint development effects is of great significance to the reasonable selection of developing methods and the objective assessment of physical evidence. In this review, we systematically summarized the evaluation methodologies on the effects of nanomaterial-based development of latent fingerprints from four aspects, namely, contrast, sensitivity, selectivity, and toxicity. In addition, the influence factors on the effects of latent fingerprint development were discussed in detail. It was summarized that the optical property of the nanomaterials had great effects on the developing contrast, the morphology and size of the nanomaterials had great effects on the developing sensitivity, and the adsorption performance and surface characteristic of the nanomaterials had great effects on the developing selectivity. At the end of this review, we also put forward some prospects for the nanomaterial-based development of latent fingerprints. From the perspective of developing materials, the nanomaterials should be involved in the transition from single luminescent property to multiple luminescent properties, from direct use of available nanomaterials to elaborate control of particle morphology and size, from simple surface treatment to targeted molecule modification, from toxic materials to non-toxic materials. From the perspective of developing strategies, the methods should be involved in the transition from strong background noise to weak fluorescent interference, from clear visualization of minutiae to distinct development of sweat pores, from physical adsorption mechanism to targeted molecule recognition, from effective development of trace evidence to nondestructive detection of biological evidence. While only focusing on improving the effects of fingerprint development, we also suggest researchers pay more attention to the evaluation of development effects, which will greatly promote fingerprint development techniques to play an important role in forensic sciences.