In this paper, we theoretically and experimentally reported a lead‐free pyroelectric infrared (PIR) detector using (Bi1/2Na1/2TiO3)‐BaTiO3(BNT‐BT) ferroelectric ceramics as the sensitive material. The variation of noise density, voltage response rate (RV), and specific detection rate (D*) with the modulation frequency under the current mode amplification circuit was investigated, and it was found that the lead‐free PIR detector showed high RV in the low frequency band. The RV and D* reached 1.51 × 105 V/W and 2.02 × 108 cmHz1/2W−1 at 10 Hz, respectively. The results were much superior to the PIR based on traditional commercial pyroelectric ceramics, indicating that BNT‐BT lead‐free ceramics have great potential in application to PIR detectors.