Abstract: Due to the advantage of rapid and non\|destructive, environment protecting determination,
near infrared spectroscopy （NIRS） and mid\|infrared spectroscopy （MIRS） are widely applied in the areas of environment， agriculture， food， biology， medicine and petrochemical， etc.
Theoretically， there is no absorption band for inorganic metal in the NIR and MIR region. However， the complex or chelation of inorganic components with organic matter， metal oxides and nonmetallic oxides are able to be reflected in the NIR spectra and MIR spectra， and thus makes relevant detection possible. This paper reviewed the quantitative and qualitative detection method and mechanism of inorganic metals in sediments， soil， compost， animals， plants， biological samples， and the enrichment methods combined with NIRS to achieve the detection of metal ions in aqueous solution were also discussed.

Key words: near infrared spectroscopy, mid\, infrared spectroscopy, inorganic metal, rapid detection