As fluorescent sensing materials, fluorescent polymers not only have many sensing units, high brightness and good light stability, but also facilitate the fabrication of fluorescent sensing films, which are easy to implement devices. Therefore, fluorescent polymers have been widely studied and applied in fluorescence detection of explosives. In recent years, a large number of fluorescent polymers with various functional units have been developed, and their structures have evolved from common linear structures to branched and porous network structures, which have effectively improved the sensitivity, selectivity and response rate of explosive detection. This review is aimed to summarize the research progress on fluorescent polymers used for detection of explosives, including linear polymers, branched polymers and porous polymers. The emphasis of this review is especially focused on the structure design strategies, functional characteristics and sensing performances of typical linear conjugated and non-conjugated polymers, dendrimers and hyperbranched polymers and amorphous and crystalline porous polymers. Finally, the future opportunities and challenges of fluorescent polymers in application of explosive detection are presented.