<p>Air monitoring is key to addressing environmental concerns and protecting human health. Passive flux samplers (PFS) are low-cost devices used to estimate air pollutant emission rates. Nonetheless, comprehensive assessments of PFS methods for determining air emissions remain limited. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the state-of-the-art in open and closed PFS for air emission monitoring. Both open and closed PFS are robust, versatile, and cost-effective devices for estimating emissions in several conditions and environments, including livestock buildings, fertilized fields, manure storing, schools, and human bodies. While both types of samplers are employed to estimate emission rates, they differ in geometry, deployment strategies, operational principles, and validation tests. This review highlights the crucial influence of the sampler’s geometry and trapping materials in optimizing PFS performance. Furthermore, computational fluid dynamics and dimensionless numbers are identified as essential tools in the design optimization of the PFS and deployment. Overall, this review underscores the high potential of PFS in determining pollutant emissions, offering guidance for future studies. It emphasizes the importance of improving PFS design for air quality assessment and contributes to the sustainable development goals, particularly in promoting health and reducing environmental pollution.</p>