High-fidelity optical detection of picric acid is the urge of the time due to its toxic and explosive nature. Moreover, Picric acid is a molecule with versatile features like hydrogen bond or proton donor-acceptor centers, extremely low pKa, highly electron deficient center, high water solubility, etc. Eventually, these concerns stimulated us to write this review article on the optical detection of picric acid. This article describes the hydrogen bonding triggered optical detection of picric acid chronologically and categorically particularly using the small molecule-based fluorophores reported over the last two decades. Special attention is conferred on how the single driver, hydrogen bonding, can bring distinct and dissimilar phenomenal changes (like aggregation, chelation, charge transfer, electron transfer, proton transfer, energy transfer, excimer formation, etc.) on the variation of the signaling and/or the binding unit of the probe molecules upon interaction with picric acid to reach the single destiny of optical detection of the explosive. Finally, conclusions are made on the key points and achievements of optical detection of picric acid along with the existing potential challenges for the young researchers who will practice innovations in this field. We believe that the article will be an important deed of the picric acid sensing literature.