The invention discloses a method and a device for detecting the sugar content of a liquid through the light intensity, and an application. The method comprises the steps of enabling a beam of quasi-monochromatic quasi-parallel light to enter a prism from one side of the prism, so that the light comes to an interface between the bottom surface of the prism and the liquid in a direction approximateto a total reflection angle of water, and the totally reflected light is emitted from the other side of the prism and is detected by a light detector; detecting a to-be-detected liquid sample and a standard liquid sample according to the previous step; and establishing a standard curve, and determining the sugar content in the to-be-detected liquid sample through the standard curve. The device forrealizing the method comprises a black card and a light path system; and the light path system comprises a quasi-monochromatic light source, a sample table, a first lens, an optical detector, an electric signal processing circuit, a power circuit, a temperature sensor probe, a second lens, a diaphragm and a light reflection element. According to the method and the device, the measurement speed ishigh, real-time measurement can be realized, the process is simple, and the accuracy is high; and during measurement of body fluids such as saliva and the like, noninvasive sampling can be realized,so that infection and pain are avoided.