The large number of deaths caused by malaria each year has increased interest in the development of effective malaria diagnoses. At the early-stage of infection, patients show non-specific symptoms or are asymptomatic, which makes it difficult for clinical diagnosis, especially in non-endemic areas. Alternative diagnostic methods that are timely and effective are required to identify infections, particularly in field settings. This article reviews conventional malaria diagnostic methods together with recently developed techniques for both malaria detection and infected erythrocyte separation. Although many alternative techniques have recently been proposed and studied, dielectrophoretic and magnetophoretic approaches are among the promising new techniques due to their high specificity for malaria parasite-infected red blood cells. The two approaches are discussed in detail, including their principles, types, applications and limitations. In addition, other recently developed techniques, such as cell deformability and morphology, are also overviewed in this article.