The circuit board fault detection method based on an infrared technology is a new non-contact detection method. According to the basic elements of infrared circuit board fault detection, the basic knowledge of various related technologies and the research status in China are presented. Some uncertain factors in infrared information extraction are analyzed. The method in which a support vector machine is used to implement infrared intelligent diagnosis of circuit board faults is proposed. Through analysis of the existing research achievements, the shortages of the current infrared circuit board fault detectors used in practical applications are described and the key points are pointed out for the further study of infrared circuit board fault diagnosis.