Food flavor plays an important role in the consumption and acceptance of food, food production as well as food science research. Chromatography-mass spectrometry and electronic nose are the two most commonly used technologies in food flavor detection. Chromatography-mass has good qualitative and quantitative effect, wide detection range, and electronic nose is convenient and fast for practical application. In this paper, the principles, advantages and disadvantages, research progress and application in flavor fingerprinting of the two types of methods and their derived analytical techniques are reviewed. In particular, the application scenarios and advantages of different technologies combined are discussed in depth by summarizing studies that reflect the differences between different technologies. Finally, the current challenges and future directions of food flavor detection technology are discussed.