Multifunctional nanoprobes, such as nanocrystals, nanoshells, and luminescent nanomaterials, have been developed for imaging biological processes, such as cell signaling, neuroimaging, protein conformation probing, DNA conformation probing, gene transcription, virus infection and replication in cells, protein dynamics, tumor diagnosis, and therapy evaluation. With the application of nanotechnology for CNS-active agents' delivery, nanostructured materials are emerging as a powerful means for diagnosis of CNS disorders, including brain tumors, because of their unique optical size, and surface properties. This review summarizes the recent patents on imaging nanoprobes for brain tumor diagnosis and therapy. The future development in this active cross-disciplinary field will be discussed as well.