The invention belongs to the technical field of nonmetal nanometer functional material and environment protection, and more specifically relates to an arsenic pollution indication material, and applications thereof in arsenic detection. The arsenic pollution indication material is a cerium oxide based nanometer material; material optical properties are changed by contact with an arsenic-containingsolution, so that indication of the concentration of arsenic ions in water is realized; the arsenic pollution indication material can be used for detection and rapid early warning of arsenic pollution of water; problems in the prior art that test equipment dependence is high, detection period is long, and chemical treatment is needed for detection of trivalent arsenic in water are solved.