The data in internet social media has the characteristics of fast transmission, high user participation and complete coverage compared with traditional media under the background of the rise of various platforms on the internet.There are various topics that people pay attention to and publish comments in, and there may exist deeper and more fine-grained sub-topics in the related information of one topic. A survey of sub-topic detection based on internet social media, as a newly emerging and developing research field, was proposed. The method of obtaining topic and sub-topic information through social media and participating in the discussion is changing people’s lives in an all-round way. However, the technologies in this field are not mature at present, and the researches are still in the initial stage in China. Firstly, the development background and basic concept of the sub-topic detection in internet social media were described. Secondly, the sub-topic detection technologies were divided into seven categories, each of which was introduced, compared and summarized. Thirdly, the methods of sub-topic detection were divided into online and offline methods, and the two methods were compared, then the general technologies and the frequently used technologies of the two methods were listed. Finally, the current shortages and future development trends of this field were summarized.