Abstract: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is a collective term for environmental mycobacteria except Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium leprae, containing about 200 species, of which Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is the most common pathogen. NTM infection can involve multiple organ systems throughout the body, about 90% of which presents with nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD), it particularly tends to occur among the population who have already had underlying pulmonary diseases. The traditional detection methods for NTM, such as acid-fast staining and culture, have the limitations such as low sensitivity and long processing time, and fail to meet the clinical needs. The rapid development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) has brought a breakthrough in diagnosis of NTM, the high-throughput and high-precision features enable the rapid identification of NTM species and analysis of drug resistance genes, remarkably improving the diagnostic efficiency. This article provides a systematic review of the current NTM detection methods, an overview of NGS, and its application in detection of pulmonary NTM infections, aiming to offer new ideas for the early, accurate diagnosis and individualized treatment of NTM-PD.