This paper offers a brief review on the detection and characterization of biological and other organic-carbon (OC) aerosol particles in atmosphere using laser-induced-fluorescence (LIF) signatures. It focuses on single individual particles or aggregates in the micron and super-micron size range when they are successively drawn through the interrogation volume of a point detection system. Related technologies for these systems that have been developed in last two decades are also discussed. These results should provide a complementary view for studying atmospheric aerosol particles, particularly bioaerosol and OC aerosol particles from other analytical technologies. •Review on the detection and characterization of atmospheric aerosol particles.•Classification of organic-carbon (OC) including biological aerosol particles by fluorescence signatures.•Technology in developing single particle detection and characterization systems based on fluorescence.