Display omitted •DNAzymes can be used for the detection and diagnosis of pathogenic bacteria.•DNAzymes can be used to detect pathogenic bacteria in food and environments.•DNAzymes have potential applications in molecules detection.•RNA-cleaving DNAzymes as a molecular beacon have great advantages in fabrication of sensors. Pathogenic bacteria contamination can cause many problems, such as infections in humans and animals and environmental pollution. Early prevention and detection of pathogenic bacteria outbreaks is crucial to managing these problems. Some traditional detection methods such as cell culturing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are time-consuming, labor-intensive, insensitive, and inconvenient for detection. Therefore, simple and efficient pathogenic bacteria detection methods involving DNAzymes signaling mechanisms have been reported, including fluorescence and color detection. DNAzymes are divided into cases as a molecular recognition element (RNA-cleaving DNAzyme) and as a reporter element (peroxidase mimicking DNAzyme), which have proven compatible with isothermal amplification technology for pathogenic bacteria detection. In this review, we summarize the current methods of detecting pathogenic bacteria based on various DNAzyme sensors. We include the design principles, working mechanisms, and detection applications of these sensors and discuss the experimental and theoretical bases for their application in the diagnosis and prevention of diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria.