Research on osteoporosis diagnosis has always been a critical isuue in the field of international academia and medicine. Recent progress in quantitative ultrasound (QUS) has suggested that ultrasound, due to its obvious advantages, be considered as an effective and noninvasive tool for assessment of bone status and diagnosis of osteoporosis. This paper presents the principle and recent development in the ultrasonic assessment of bone status and osteoporosis including assessment with through-transmission and backscattering measurement, and also introduces the latest progress in ultrasonic axial transmission technique.Limitations of current research are discussed and suggestions are proposed for future research.