The overuse of antibiotics in medicine, livestock and poultry systems leads to an increase in abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment, accelerating the environmental dissemination of antibiotic resistance and posing a potential threat to public health. But there is a lack of sufficient information on the current situation of antibiotic resistance pollution in environment, and the relevant research methods need to be optimized and improved. In this paper, we review recent progress of antibiotic resistance in environment, and discuss the collection methods of different environmental (water, soil and air) samples, as well as detection methods for antibiotic resistance—cultivation-based and molecular biology methods (qualitative and quantitative PCR, DNA hybridization and DNA microarray, metagenomics, etc.). The aim is to provide scientific basis and technical support for the research on antibiotic resistance in different environmental matrices.