Sweet potato is a kind of low-calorie root food that has also been used for medicinal purpose. It is rich in a variety of essential nutrients and bioactive ingredients for the human body, and can be used to prevent various diseases. The quality of sweet potato directly affects its product quality, classification and quality grading and economic value. Rapid and efficient detection technologies play an important role in ensuring the quality and safety of sweet potato. Many studies on the rapid detection and analysis of sweet potato quality based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) have been reported. This paper comprehensively summarizes recent progress in the application of NIRS in the detection of the general chemical components (protein, starch, sugar, and water), active components (flavonoids and carotenoids), adulterants, heavy metals and microbial contamination in sweet potato as well as in its varietal identification. Moreover, this paper proposes future trends and research priorities for the application of NIRS in the quality detection of sweet potato. This review is expected to provide more references for further improvement of rapid quality assessment of sweet potato by NIRS and for the development of related fast testing equipment.