Currently, a large part of the world population does not have access to quality visual health services. Most of this population lives in developing countries, thus it is necessary to screen the general population to identify ocular abnormalities such as refractive errors and amblyopia in schoolchildren. The protocols for complete visual screening or examination vary widely regarding the type of tests and procedures, although most of them use visual acuity (VA) and refraction as the main diagnostic criteria. These clinical tests should have good quality and precision, that is, a high sensitivity and specificity. Unfortunately, in most clinical and epidemiological studies, the quality and accuracy of the tests used are unknown, which makes it difficult to compare results and to estimate the real conditions of visual problems in the population. Therefore, the objective of this literature review was to describe the main tests and protocols used in epidemiological and clinical studies for the detection of refractive errors in children.