Abstract: Plastics were invented a century ago and utilized by human being ever since, which bring tremendous convenience to our daily life. Plastic products and constituents can break down into microplastics (MPs) while undergoing combined physical, chemical, and biological processes. MPs in the environments might enter into the drinking water. Such contamination and potential health risks gradually become concerns. The qualitative and quantitative detection of MPs is still in its developmental stage. Raman spectroscopy (RS) is one of the commonly used sensitive, non-invasive and non-destructive optical methods in MPs analysis. This article primarily focuses on the sources, potential hazards of MPs in drinking water, and research advancements in RS technology, in order to promote better understanding of MPs contamination and drawattention to the research and development of MPs detection technology.

Key words: microplastics; drinking water; hazards; Raman spectroscopy; detection

（Acta Laser Biology Sinica, 2024, 33(1): 014-023）