Heavy metals over acceptable limits established by the world health organization can source complications to human beings and animal life in the environment. Several analytical approaches have been established to screen the air, water, food quality by tracing different heavy metal ions in samples. The review work begins with the introduction of pharmaceutical analysis, including metal's effect on the body and various instruments used in the heavy metal determination. The potential of ICP-OES to sense heavy metal ions was discussed. This review article provides an impression of the metals present in the environment and their detection through ICP-OES. In addition, recapitulates the body of work on heavy metal determination in the previous years using ICP-OES. The strengths and limitations of ICPOES have also been conversed. The review illustrates that ICP-OES has great prospective in heavy metal ion determination. Keywords: ICP-OES, Heavy elements, Multi-element determination, Plasma, Metals