Flavor substances endow foods with unique characteristics, which determine the aroma and taste sensory attributes of foods, directly affect food quality and reflect the characteristic quality and quality requirements of foods.Flavor substances play an important role in the research, production and consumption of foods, and deep research, development and utilization of flavor substances are important for the development of the food industry.In this paper, the definition and classification of flavor substances in foods are introduced, the synthesis mechanism of flavor substances through the fatty acid, amino acid, and carbohydrate metabolic pathways are elucidated, and the detection methods of flavor substances and their applications in the food processing industry are reviewed.Finally, the limitations of flavor substance detection are discussed and an outlook on future directions in this field is given.We hope that this review will provide directions for the development and utilization of food flavor substances.