Apoptosis is an important type of programmed cell death, which is necessary for the development and growth of higher eukaryotes including bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi. It has been found that the apoptotic mechanism in filamentous fungi is more complex compared to yeast as they contain several homologs of the mammalian apoptosis-regulated proteins which are not present in the yeast genome. Apoptosis plays important roles in the development, reproduction and aging of filamentous fungi. Today, as new model organisms for apoptotic research, the filamentous fungi have been widely studied. In this paper we reviewed the phenomena, detection methods, functions and induction mechanisms of apoptosis in filamentous fungi.