Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections cause more than 700 000 deaths each year worldwide. Detection of bacteria is critical in limiting infection-based damage. Nanomaterials provide promising sensing platforms owing to their ability to access new interaction modalities. Nanoclusters feature sizes smaller than traditional nanomaterials, providing great sensitive ability for detecting analytes. The distinct optical and catalytic properties of nanoclusters combined with their biocompatibility enables them as efficient biosensors. In this review, we summarize multiple strategies that utilize nanoclusters for detection of pathogenic bacteria.