Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Later diagnosis of the disease is the leading cause of poor prognosis. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a novel approach to provide information about the molecular components and metabolic conditions of human tissue; therefore it can detect the early changes caused by cancer cells prior to histological manifestation. FTIR-based diagnosis is rapid, simple and label free, which meets the requirements of an automated and patient-friendly technique. The current article gives an overview of the experimental techniques, data analysis methods and spectral signatures of breast cancer in FTIR-based diagnosis, summarizes the present challenges by focusing on the history of FTIR spectroscopy in breast cancer since 1990s, and highlights some investigations that give a perspective of FTIR-based diagnosis.