Phosphate derivatives are ubiquitous in living organisms playing several important roles. Therefore, the development of sophisticated artificial phosphate receptors and chemosensors that can work in aqueous conditions is currently an area of great interest. There is a need to develop new methodologies for detection, separation or transport of biologically relevant phosphate derivatives. In the past two decades, many artificial chemosensors have been reported; these can be broadly classified into (1) chemosensors utilizing electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonds and (2) chemosensors utilizing coordination chemistry. The development of these receptors is often inspired by the design of substrate-binding centers in natural enzymes such as protein kinases, phosphatases and phospholipases. More recently, the targets of such chemosensors have been broadened to include the recognition of phosphorylated protein surfaces. Here we review the recent progress in the development of molecular receptors and chemosensors that can selectively detect phosphate derivatives in aqueous media.