Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic, heterogeneous, and multi-factorial intestinal inflammatory disorders. Major challenges in IBD research include identification of major pathogenic alterations of genes/proteins as well as effective biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis, and prediction of therapeutic response. Since proteins govern cellular structure and biological function, a wide selection of proteomic approaches enables effective characterization of IBD pathogenesis by investigating the dynamic nature of protein expression, cellular and subcellular distribution, post-translational modifications, and interactions at both cellular and subcellular levels. The aims of this review are to 1) highlight the current status of proteomic studies of IBD and 2) introduce the available and emerging proteomic technologies that have potential applications in the study of IBD. These technologies include various mass spectrometry technologies, quantitative proteomics (2D-PAGE, ICAT, SILAC, iTRAQ), protein/antibody arrays, and multi-epitope-ligand cartographie. This review also presents information and methodologies, from sample-selection and enrichment to protein-identification, that are not only essential but also particularly relevant to IBD research. The potential future application of these technologies is expected to have a significant impact on the discovery of novel biomarkers and key pathogenic factors for IBD.