Under the influence of climate change and human activities, the structure and function of an ecosystem may change abruptly in a large scale. It leads an ecosystem to change from a relatively stable state to another stable state, a phenomenon known as the regime shifts. Because of the complexity of ecosystem, it is still a challenge to accurately characterize the alternative states of ecosystem and define its tipping point. In terms of that, improving the ability of detecting and predicting the regime shifts of ecosystem is still a hot topic and difficulty in the field of ecology. Based on the alternative states' theory and the classical concept frame of regime shift, this research explained the theoretical basis of regime shift detection. In view of the scale dependence, this paper summarized the detection methods and application cases of regime shift under different scales including single ecosystem, regional integrated ecosystem and global ecosystem. Based on the research progress, it is urgent to develop a comprehensive detection method to adapt to the complex system, innovate the scaling technique system, deepen the research of driving mechanism of regime shifts, gradually develop practice of ecosystem management, and further understand ecosystem services and sustainable development mechanisms.