Abstract: Porphyrin is a kind of promising organic chromogenic reagent for its special optical properties, so it is widely used in the trace determination of metal ions. This paper has a review on porphyrin that has been used in heavy metallic analysis and application during the last few years. The application of spectrophotometry, fluorescent method and high performance liquid chromatography in the analysis of heavy metal ions was introduced. The problems related and the solving methods were also enumerated. In addition, the development trend of heavy metallic analysis using porphyrin as a chromogenic reagent was forecasted.