There are currently about 3,700 private detective agencies of various types in China, with over 20,000 employees. Most private detective agencies are named "investigation companies", "investigation centers", "investigation offices", etc. Main business: Business anti-counterfeiting, missing person search services, marital investigation, child behavior supervision, debt collection, whereabouts investigation, credit investigation, intellectual property investigation, as well as anti-counterfeiting and rights protection, economic intelligence investigation, etc.

As a profession, "private detective" has not yet been recognized by the Chinese government. In 1993, the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice, prohibiting any unit or individual from establishing various forms of private detective agencies such as civil affairs investigation offices and security affairs investigation offices. The explicitly prohibited businesses include: accepting civil and economic disputes, debt collection, security prevention technology consultation, and investigations involving personal privacy, etc.

Since the 1990s, the market demand for private detectives has been continuously expanding, and the private detective industry has also developed rapidly. However, due to the lack of necessary barriers and effective supervision, the composition of the industry's personnel is chaotic, which in turn hinders the healthy development of the private detective industry.