Propofol is a main representative of intravenous anesthetics, with the advantages of rapid onset, rapid awakening, and perfect function recovery. However, at present, there is no clinical method for monitoring its concentration in a real‑time manner. Due to the disadvantages of traditional methods, such as complex sample pretreatment, long‑time measurement, and large equipment in some assays which is unable to be placed in the operating room, increasing attention has been drawn towards rapid detection of propofol. The current paper is designed to comprehensively describe how to perform rapid detection of propofol concentrations. This article mainly discusses the rapid detection methods and principles of blood propofol concentrations and exhaled concentrations, so as to facilitate clinical application and to instruct anesthesiologists for evaluating anesthesia depth in a fast and real‑time manner.