Defects over a highly reflective rotary surface (HRRS) may change the service performance, lifespan and safety properties of products. Therefore, defect detection is very important for surface quality assurance. In this paper, the attributes of HRRS defect detection are described. Then, a comparative overview in terms of key parameters in the HRRS defect detection systems is elaborated. Finally, this paper reviews various detection technologies for HRRS defect detection and categorizes the previous literature by their detection technologies, which can provide a reference for further implementation and improvements in this field. This study provides guidelines for selecting which scheme is the most suitable when designing new HRRS defect detection systems.