Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain, in brief, about smart, intelligent system which actively monitors the wellness of the elderly and will also send necessary alarms to the caretakers or doctors during an emergency because nowadays most of elderly people wish to stay alone independently. It is necessary to monitor their health conditions and activities continuously to prevent occurrence of health problems and also be able to provide medical assistance to them during emergencies. Design/methodology/approach The review paper describes the development of a methodology to monitor elderly continuously with a combination of advanced intelligent sensors, networking technologies and data processing system. Findings This paper identified various sensors used in smart home such as a pressure sensor, temperature sensor, etc., for monitoring elders health and their characteristics and also the cost, model number, etc., of various sensors available in the market. Originality/value This paper contains the comparison of various sensors available in the market that can be used in the smart home and also where we can use those sensors in smart home based on their characteristics.