Light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (LITES) is a promising optical approach for gas sensing, which uses a quartz tuning fork (QTF) as a photothermal detector, instead of a commercial photodetector. Since the QTF has the advantages of low cost, small size, high resonance frequency, high-quality factor (Q-factor), and a wide spectral response range, and the LITES sensor has received extensive attention and obtained great development. This review paper summarizes and discusses the advances of the QTF-based, state-of-the-art LITES gas sensing technique in recent years and presents the development prospects of LITES sensor in the future.