Cryptosporidium in the city supply and drainage system has been spreading through water-borne and have great threat to the security of drinking water directly.The problem of cryptosporidium has attracted world wide attention.Water quality standard for drinking water which was promulgated newly in our country has limited the concentration of cryptosporidium oocysts in drinking water.In this paper,Cryptosporidium and cryptosporidiosis were introduced briefly,and the existing methods for detecting the cryptosporidium at home and abroad were introduced systemly.The applicability of these detecting methods were also introduced in this paper.This paper can provide reference for preventing cryptosporidiosis,examining patients and evaluating the disinfective effect of disinfectant which can inactive the cryptosporidium oocysts.