We developed a new class of turn-on fluorescent probes for an esterase. After the esterase-mediated hydrolysis produced carboxylate (as a fluorescence activator), the fluorescence intensity was markedly increased through the detachment of a quencher moiety from the quenched Cy5 fluorophore. Because the probes based on this new activator-induced quencher-detachment (AiQd) adopt a non-immolative linker between the cleavable site and the fluorophore, the rate of the enzymatic reaction is greatly improved, without the generation of any by-products.