In recent years, electrochemical detection (EC) methods have become increasingly important for the determination of carbohydrate compounds in a variety of biological and pharmaceutical samples. In this work, recent advances in the design and application of EC approaches are reviewed, with the goal of providing the non-electrochemist with a basic understanding of the most important EC approaches to carbohydrate detection and an overview of their current applications. Two specific EC detection strategies are considered in detail: enzyme electrodes and electrodes used for HPLC or capillary electrophoresis detection.