A sensitive method for diagnosing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly required to fight the current and future global health threats due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2). However, most of the current methods exhibited high false‐negative rates, resulting in patient misdiagnosis and impeding early treatment. Nanoparticles show promising performance and great potential to serve as a platform for diagnosing viral infection in a short time and with high sensitivity. This review highlighted the potential of nanoparticles as platforms for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Nanoparticles such as gold nanoparticles, magnetic nanoparticles, and graphene (G) were applied to detect SARS-CoV 2. They have been used for molecular-based diagnosis methods and serological methods. Nanoparticles improved specificity and shorten the time required for the diagnosis. They may be implemented into small devices that facilitate the self-diagnosis at home or in places such as airports and shops. Nanoparticles-based methods can be used for the analysis of virus-contaminated samples from a patient, surface, and air. The advantages and challenges were discussed to introduce useful information for designing a sensitive, fast, and low-cost diagnostic method. This review aims to present a helpful survey for the lesson learned from handling this outbreak to prepare ourself for future pandemic.