During the progression of chronic liver disease, changes in the acidic microenvironment of liver tissue are closely correlated with the extent of pathological injury, making precise monitoring of these changes critical for disease assessment. Traditional detection methods (e.g., blood gas analysis, tissue pH electrodes) suffer from limitations such as high invasiveness and low spatiotemporal resolution, hindering dynamic reflection of hepatic acid environment evolution. PH-responsive probes (e.g., fluorescent probes, magnetic resonance probes), leveraging their non-invasive, real-time, and high-specificity advantages, have emerged as a research focus in this field. This review focuses on the application of such probes in rat chronic liver disease models: outlining their design principles and types, analyzing their quantitative detection capabilities for liver acidification levels, summarizing their value in correlating pathological processes such as liver inflammation, fibrosis, and cirrhosis, and demonstrating their ability to identify disease progression and evaluate intervention efficacy through early detection of acidic environment changes. Studies indicate that pH-responsive probes provide a tool for elucidating the mechanisms of the acidic microenvironment in chronic liver disease and lay the foundation for developing non-invasive monitoring technologies in clinical translation, holding significant academic and practical value.