Recent time has witnessed unprecedented activity in the colorimetric sensing because of its low cost, practicability, selectivity as well as sensitivity. In addition to the ease in visual “naked eye” qualitative assessment of the colorimetric sensing events, the quantification can be done by resorting to spectrophotometric analysis. Additionally, a number of smart materials based on nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, mesoporous materials, synthetic pores, conjugated polymers, etc. have been developed and used for colorimetric detection. Herein, we focus on the recent developments (last five years) in colorimetric sensing using dyes.