Infrared detectors play an indispensable role in critical fields such as civilian, military, and aerospace sectors, and their future development holds significant strategic importance. This article provides an overview of the development history and current status of infrared detectors, with a focus on several main types of photon type infrared detectors including mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe), indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), antimonides (InSb-based and type II superlattice (T2SL), quantum wells (QW), silicon-based blocked impurity band (BIB), colloidal quantum dots (CQD), two-dimensional (2D) material detectors, EIW effect detectors and ferroelectric IR detectors. It also discusses new technological applications in infrared detection such as event-based dynamic vision sensing, computational imaging, absorption-enhanced micro/nanostructures, and three-dimensional (3D) integration. Furthermore, the future trends in the development of infrared detectors are explored.